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Slackers
Screen Gems Inc.


5.9

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 33 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong language and sexual content, and for brief drug use

Starring Robert B. Martin Jr., Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, Mary Faulkner, James King, Michael C. Maronna, Jason Segel, and Laura Prepon

When geeky Ethan (Schwartzman) finds out that three college students are running a scam that gets them perfect grades without doing any homework, he blackmails one of them into helping him win the heart of Angela (King), the most popular girl on campus. (Sony)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	David H. Steinberg
DIRECTED BY:	Dewey Nicks
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 28, 2002 Video: May 28, 2002 Theatrical: February 1, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	100 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Canada / USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

USA Today Mike Clark

There are laughs here, but easily as many groans.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Before immediately handing the movie an F and sending it off to summer school, give the filmmakers, and especially co-star Jason Schwartzman, credit for their anarchic willingness to try anything to shock a laugh loose from an audience.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

So patchy in its laughs, so calculated in its grossness and so lacking in genuine comic exuberance, it makes you look at "Road Trip" in an admiring new light.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Once again, we have a movie where the jokes are aimed at the least common denominator - meaning that to genuinely enjoy the experience of sitting through Slackers, you will need help from a controlled substance.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

A disappointing venture. If only it had been more clever, perhaps darker.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The movie doesn't so much extend Schwartzman's antic outsider persona from ''Rushmore'' as uglify it, reducing him to the ultimate Uncool Anti-WASP.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

The most that can be said for Slackers -- aside from the unqualified pleasure of Schwartzman's unfaked, puppyish weirdness -- is that it doesn't abandon its putrid ideals for the sake of a neat finish.

Variety Robert Koehler

Awful and subversively spunky at the same time.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The roll call of perversions and adolescent sex gags are more creepy than kooky and the sudden shift to triumphant romantic sincerity at the climax rings as false as this film's sappy (sorry, happy) ending.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Slackers depends on the pathetic Ethan and the flatulent Sam for most of its laughs, and both characters are more revolting than amusing.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A discordant comedy that gives bad taste a bad name.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

An odd little movie. And not in a good way.

Boston Globe Jonathan Perry

There's scant character development, pedestrian dialogue, and an almost complete lack of humor.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Slackers is supposed to be a gross-out comedy, but the tastelessness of its jokes is nothing compared to its sheer cluelessness.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Schwartzman steals Slackers without much effort, but it's not worth the theft.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

The title not only describes its main characters, but the lazy people behind the camera as well.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The gags are familiar collegiate stuff, involving horny young men, horny old whores -- horny young tramps -- silly foreigners, uptight authority figures, homosexuals and sassy fat women.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A standard issue undergrad gross-out comedy notable only for the showy role it provides Jason Schwartzman, well-remembered as "Rushmore's" geeky high school student Max Fischer.

Chicago Tribune Patrick Z. McGavin

Not only is Slackers painfully bad, but it's also about as morally unpleasant as a teen sex comedy can be.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Slackers is, well, consummately cheesy. Ugh.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A shit stain on the genre.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

How bad is it? Let me count just some of the ways.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

So lazy and slipshod it confuses the mere flashing of kinky soft-core imagery with naughty fun.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A dirty movie. Not a sexy, erotic, steamy or even smutty movie, but a just plain dirty movie. It made me feel unclean, and I'm the guy who liked "There's Something About Mary" and both "American Pie" movies.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Barely proficient on a craft level, this jumble of putatively comic misunderstanding and overly familiar crude burlesque achieves its nadir with a cameo from Mamie Van Doren, a degrading, shameful turn that lays bare, all too literally, the filmmakers' contempt for women.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

A singularly distasteful campus romp.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Alas, Slackers sucks. It's so bad Schwartzman can't save it, though he tries mightily; a flash of nudity from Pearl Harbor babe and male-named model-turned-actress James King isn't even worth the price of a video rental down the line.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Stinks like a cat box that hasn't been changed in a hundred years.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.9 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chris A. gave it a10:
This movie is amazing. It has great inside jokes and is bursting with awkwardness. Basically, if they had tried harder this film could not have been better. The only reason people don't like it is because they lack the creativty to identify with characters that have techniques such as "the seed of doubt." That is brilliant!

Ev A. gave it a10:
This movie may be crude and limited, but looks at it's following. There is obviously a chemistry between the cast members that draws new fans with every viewing.

Linda U. gave it a5:
I don't know why, but I actually like this movie. I'm not going to lie to any of you readers and actually tell you that it's a good movie -- it's not: the story is derivative, unoriginal, and badly constructed and it leaves much to be desired; there're too many disgusting gags; and the characters themselves are unlikable to say the least. However, there's something about this movie that seems to care less about being liked: it doesn't rely on fart jokes (it relies on gross sex jokes, instead -- the movie could've done very well without THOSE -- it probably would've gotten better reviews without those jokes); it doesn't aim to shamelessly please with stupid stock characters; it doesn't have hit actors trying to cash it in ('cept maybe the That '70 Show chick trying to stretch herself out); and it lacks the urge to try to paint this happy, unrealistic, and slapstick-reliant image of Life As We Know It. It basically refuses to be mainstream in any way as I know it. Sorry, but college is NOT fun -- it's just as flawed and pretentious as other era in one's person life, and movies like American Pie are designed to appeal to the status quo that thinks it's funny to pretend that college and post-college(or -high school, depending on how your life's turning out) IS The Four Best Years of Your Life. Why pretend? It's not! I don't why anyone, the movie critics or the moviegoers out there, want me to believe that this movie is irreparable crap, while pretentious, crowd-pleasing fluff like American Pie gets passed off as original entertainment for the 18-35 crowd. That, and Michael Maronna from "Pete & Pete" is in this. Seeing as how stuff like this has no chance of ever having or wanting universal appeal and would just rather be itself, I guess I just like this movie out of childish spite. :)

Pon R. gave it a0:
Yes, there are people who liked this movie. Yes, there are people who loved it. We call these people shallow. People who mistaken cheap teen pandering for a good film. The same people who listen to pop rock and watch Carson Daly while trying to be popular...in middle school. Seriously, if you can't see straight through this farce for what it is - a sad attempt at appealing to the recently pubescent - you have no business trying to defend it on any level. Teen movies have a crappy rep as it is, but this one really does set a new low.

Steph M. gave it a10:
My favorite movie ever.

Alicia gave it a 5:
The sad thing is, this movie had great potential. With a little more care put into the script and the directing, it would have been great.

Ashley gave it a 9:
This movie is f..king awesome. I laughed so hard though out the film. The penis puppet was great.

Slackers Screen Gems Inc.

Slackers
Screen Gems Inc.