Michael deserved better

It’s refreshing to realize that feeling marooned in life is not solely designated to my generation. Much like Richard Linklater defined a generation in “Dazed and Confused”, Ben Stiller does something nearly as relatable with “Reality Bites”- which takes on post-college malaise and the idea that most college graduates won’t be taking on the world at 23 like they thought. As a millennial, don’t I know it! At this point i’m aiming for by 50.


Winona Ryder plays Laney, the valedictorian of her college not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. She’s an aspiring documentary filmmaker, pointing the camera at her buddies to really get inside the Gen X mind- one that, as she says, has no real heroes or inspirations. But this doesn’t pay the bills and so she’s forced to take a job as a Production Assistant on a hokey morning show with an unctuous host.


The crux of the story is a love triangle between her and two other men- her college age buddy Troy (Ethan Hawke), a philosophy major who looks down his nose at the corporate rat race while remaining a unemployed freeloader, and Michael (Stiller), an executive at an MTV style cable station. He’s a nice guy who shares many of the same existential ideas and loves as she does.


But it seems like she’s been trying to work out her feelings for Troy since college. He’s a friend and she seems to want to keep it that way but she finds herself drawn to him even though he can be a pretentious man-child.


Given the choice between Michael and Troy, the answer should be clear. But “Reality Bites” makes a lot of 2nd half deviations. The characters start being defined by their jobs (or lack thereof) more than by who they are and you kinda wish the movie were smarter than that. The Stiller character deserved better than to get the heave-ho, just as the Hawke character needed a real transformation, not just a couple scenes of sincerity in the end.


The big scene, where Laney hands her footage over to Michael but then is horrified to see what his people do to it does bring up all kinds of questions, the biggest one is how much compromise Laney is willing to give up as an artist? That would have been a better conversation with Michael than where the film eventually does go, which is to paint him as a sell out and Laney and Troy as the poor, but virtuous.


That I don’t really like where the film eventually goes doesn’t detract from what I really do love about it, which is young people facing a job market where the odds are stacked against them. You’re either over or underqualified, not willing to go the extra mile, or not willing to take the demeaning job (which, as one character points out here, even the mentally handicapped boy can get, based on the TV commercial).


And it also touches on things faced during the early 90’s, like possibly having contracted the HIV virus and coming out as gay to your parents. Both of these are fairly weighty issues which Stiller does a terrific job of adding reason and light humor too. When Vickie (Janeane Garafalo), Laney’s roommate, compares her situation to feeling like a character on “Melrose Place”, it’s not only absurdly funny but also very identifiable to a generation who only has pop culture as a context for most things in life.


The performances are also really strong, with Ryder leading the way as an anxiety-riddled, directionless upstart with a good head on her shoulders. Hawke has the hardest job in finding some things to like about Troy and it’s surprising how successful he is at it, and Stiller brings a mix of slickness and genuine heart to Michael, which ultimately makes the movie pigeonholing him as something of a corporate stooge kinda upsetting.


“Reality Bites” has some great things to say about the culture but its anti-establishment bent also kinda shirks the realities of living. The goal is a happy medium. I kinda wished Laney would learn that in the end. Or at least see that there was more worth in the square doing his best rather than the scruffy counter-culturalist not doing much of anything.