X
- 1997
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 1 m
- 1997
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 1 m
Directed By: Richard Linklater
Written By: Eric Bogosian
- 1997
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 1 m
- 1997
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 2 h 1 m
SubUrbia
63
8.1
Where to Watch
Directed By: Richard Linklater
Written By: Eric Bogosian
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
63
55% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
45% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
63
55% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
45% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The talk sounds a little canned – an adult's foggy reconstruction of what it was like to hang out – but, for a while, Linklater is able to extract odd momentary glances and giggles from the actors to freshen it up.
The movie is dark, intense and disturbing.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 22 User Ratings
8.1
77% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
18% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
5% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 22 User Ratings
8.1
77% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
18% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
5% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
This is a great film. This is a great film. This is a great film. This is a great film.
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Director Linklater and writer Bogosian do a fine job with the film version of the latter's stage play. I wish he would write some more plays and/or screenplays. This is a robust slice of 1990s suburban disaffection/conflict/despair, focusing on a group of 17-22 year olds who hang around outside a convenience store. There is a little mini-genre of these kinds of stories.
Main character Jeff's life is not going anywhere, and he appears to be on the verge of losing his artist girlfriend, who is planning her escape to New York City. Tim is the dark, tough drunkard of the group, Buff is the clown, and poor Bee-Bee is very depressed. They clash with Nazeer, the serious young Pakistani who manages the store. Things get turned upside down with the arrival (in a limousine) of Pony, who has left hanging out on the corner behind for success as a rock star. Tensions grow and some kind of violence seems imminent. The acting is very good (e.g. check out Zahn's stunts) and the story grows more powerful and interesting as it goes along.
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Driven by Bogosian's finger-snapping dialogue and theatrical structure, subUrbia doesn't allow for much pleasurably Linklaterish lounging; each character has got some serious orating to do before the night is over.
SubUrbia is about 95% dialogue, some of which is clever, but much of which is pointless.
Linklater, who introduced the blithe, but bemused slacker subculture to America in 1991, gets bogged down not only in Bogosian's for-stage structure, but especially his middle-aged perspective.
A long, dark night o' slacker despair, courtesy of Richard Linklater and self-important blowhard Eric Bogosian.
With each succeeding picture, Linklater seemed to grow as a filmmaker, just as his characters became more defined and developed. But with his fourth picture, subUrbia, he takes two giant steps backward.
Writer-director teamings seldom mesh as smoothly or suggest so many creative affinities as does the one at the heart of subUrbia, a brooding, incisive comedy that blends the talents of helmer Richard Linklater and playwright Eric Bogosian.
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I have the understanding that the script for this film was written first for a play, so the focus on the dialogues is pretty clear.
Although that's not surprising for Linklater either, but the dark tone of the plot is surprising yet is totally understandable considering the theme about the American dream that just doesn't exist for that generation.
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