Art School Confidential (2006)

Starting from childhood attempts at illustration, the protagonist pursues his true obsession to art school. But as he learns how the art world really works, he finds that he must adapt his vision to the reality that confronts him.

Director:

Terry Zwigoff

Writers:

Daniel Clowes (screenplay), Daniel Clowes (comic story)

Stars:

Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Max Minghella	...	Jerome
Sophia Myles	...	Audrey
John Malkovich	...	Professor Sandiford
Jim Broadbent	...	Jimmy
Matt Keeslar	...	Jonah
Ethan Suplee	...	Vince
Joel David Moore	...	Bardo
Nick Swardson	...	Matthew
Anjelica Huston	...	Art History Teacher
Adam Scott	...	Marvin Bushmiller
Jack Ong	...	Professor Okamura
Scoot McNairy	...	Army-Jacket
Jeremy Guskin	...	Eno
Monika Ramnath	...	Flower
Isaac Laskin	...	Kiss-Ass

Storyline

Jerome, a kid from the suburbs who loves to draw, goes to New York City's Strathmore College for his freshman year as a drawing major. Competition and petty jealousy consume faculty and students, with an end-of-first-semester best-student award held out as a grand plum. Worse, a strangler is on the loose, killing people on or next to campus. The idealistic Jerome falls in love with Audrey, a student who models for life-drawing classes and who responds to his sweetness. But he has a rival: the clean-cut, manly Jonah, also a first-year drawing student, whose primitive work draws raves and Audrey's attention. As cynicism seems to corrode everything, Jerome is desperate to win.

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Plot Keywords:

drawing | love | new york city | art school | suburb | 

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Taglines:

Who said anything about talent?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language including sexual references, nudity and a scene of violence

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Classics [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 November 2006 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Akademia tajemniczych sztuk pieknych

Filming Locations:

Communications Center, Los Angeles City College - 855 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$135,733 (USA) (5 May 2006)

Gross:

$3,296,916 (USA) (11 August 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists, Mr. Mudd

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 102 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The college's name, "Strathmore", is actually a company that manufactures things like sketchpads and tracing paper for artists.

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Goofs

When Jerome's roommate, the fashion designer, is sewing on his machine, it wasn't threaded correctly. The spool was on the bobbin loader, not the spool pin where it should be.

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Quotes

Bardo: I'm a living cliché just like the rest of these guys. I'm the guy who keeps dropping out and changing his major just because he's afraid he really sucks at everything.

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Crazy Credits

An extra scene featuring the actors in Vince's film is shown after the credits.

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Connections

Features The Facts of Life (1979)

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Soundtracks

"Hell's Bell"
Provided by Audio Network Library - UK
Provided courtesy of Groove Addicts - Los Angeles

User Reviews

Another misfire

Much of the problem with Art School Confidential lies with the character of Jerome. Clowes writes graphic novels, and the main character he's written here is simply a cartoon figure with no depth to speak of. He falls much too fast from his ambition of becoming the world's greatest artist to someone willing to compromise his talent for the sake of coming in first in a college competition. Granted, he is pliable, aping whoever he happens to be with at the moment—it's Bardo one moment, star alumnus Marvin Bushmiller (Adam Scott) the next— and adopting the bitter, nihilistic rantings of failed artist Jimmy (Jim Broadbent) as if those beliefs were his own. This might all be interesting if Jerome was, say, the type of troubled, seeking boy that Minghella played in Bee Season. Sadly he is not, and though Minghella is a fine actor, there's not a lot he can do with what is essentially a stick figure.

That's not to say that Art School Confidential is completely worthless. Malkovich (who also produced) is very funny, and so is Broadbent, but mostly this feels like the type of comedy Jerome's roommate Vince might someday make: overly broad, obvious, and very self- conscious. It wants to be cool, it wants to be hip, but like Jerome in his quest to be the next Picasso, it's merely clueless.