A day in the life of Austin, Texas as the camera roams from place to place and provides a brief look at the overeducated, the social misfits, the outcasts and the oddballs.
A nameless young character goes into travels to the country, meeting some acquaintances and strangers as well, having banal conversations, dedicating his existence into daily mundane ... See full summary »
Director:
Richard Linklater
Stars:
Richard Linklater,
James Goodwin,
Dan Kratochvil
In small-town Texas, an affable mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when she starts to become controlling, he goes to great lengths to separate himself from her grasp.
Director:
Richard Linklater
Stars:
Jack Black,
Shirley MacLaine,
Matthew McConaughey
Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner just don't fit into the establishment norms, move seamlessly from one scene to the next, randomly coming and going into one another's lives. Highlights include a UFO buff who adamantly insists that the U.S. has been on the moon since the 1950s, a woman who produces a glass slide purportedly of Madonna's pap smear, and an old anarchist who sympathetically shares his philosophy of life with a robber.Written by
Rick Gregory <rag.apa@email.apa.org>
This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #247. See more »
Goofs
The taxi cab that Linkletter's character gets into at the Trailways station is not the one he later gets out of near campus. The second one has a different unit number, a No Smoking sign, and a missing whitewall tire. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Should Have Stayed at Bus Station:
[babbling to silent cab driver]
Man, I just had the weirdest dream - back on the bus there? Did you ever have one of those dreams that are completely real. I mean they're so vivid. It's just like completely real. It's like, there's always something bizarre going on, though. I have one about every 2 years or something. I always remember 'em real good. Like there's always someone getting run over, or something really weird. Um, one time I had lunch with Tolstoy. Another time I was a ...
See more »
Crazy Credits
At the end of the credits, the usual disclaimer is replaced with: "This story was based on fact. Any similiarity with fictional events or characters is entirely coincidental." See more »
Die Graskop Polka
Written by Nico Carstens
Full Keel Music Co., on behalf of Shisa Intl.
Courtesy of Larry Hall/Harry Maselow (Strand Records) See more »
Linklaters debut is too often condemned by that timeless criticism of 'arthouse pretention'. Basically a series of glimpses into the lives of what must be too many characters to name or list here, think perhaps of Magnolia, but with that early nineties social discontent that provided the backdrop for (but not the focus of) Crowe's 'Singles'.
Claims of pretention seem to lie with the occasional philosophical musings of the films malcontents, but Linklater tempers this by placing the dialogue firmly within popular culture, a style that was popularised in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction three years later. It would be erroneous to claim that all the film's dialogue, which is peppered with what are often referred to as 'in-jokes' and references, would be completely understood by all viewers, but since many of these undoubtedly flew over my head, its clear that this is not a hindrance at all.
Ultimately, the viewer that aims to understand and have known all the concepts peppered within the slacker's idle musings has missed the point. Theres a lot of humour here, and besides, if you were one such person, you would be exactly the sort of idle philosopher that Linklater so sharply satirises here, along with the other oddball characters and conspiracy theorists that make this a great offbeat comedy.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Linklaters debut is too often condemned by that timeless criticism of 'arthouse pretention'. Basically a series of glimpses into the lives of what must be too many characters to name or list here, think perhaps of Magnolia, but with that early nineties social discontent that provided the backdrop for (but not the focus of) Crowe's 'Singles'.
Claims of pretention seem to lie with the occasional philosophical musings of the films malcontents, but Linklater tempers this by placing the dialogue firmly within popular culture, a style that was popularised in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction three years later. It would be erroneous to claim that all the film's dialogue, which is peppered with what are often referred to as 'in-jokes' and references, would be completely understood by all viewers, but since many of these undoubtedly flew over my head, its clear that this is not a hindrance at all.
Ultimately, the viewer that aims to understand and have known all the concepts peppered within the slacker's idle musings has missed the point. Theres a lot of humour here, and besides, if you were one such person, you would be exactly the sort of idle philosopher that Linklater so sharply satirises here, along with the other oddball characters and conspiracy theorists that make this a great offbeat comedy.