Slackers (2002)

When geeky Ethan discovers three fellow students scamming the examination system, he blackmails them to win over the college's most popular girl.

Director:

Dewey Nicks

Writer:

David H. Steinberg

Stars:

Devon Sawa, Robert B. Martin Jr., Jason Segel

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Devon Sawa	...	Dave Goodman
Jason Segel	...	Sam Schechter
Michael C. Maronna	...	Jeff Davis (as Michael Maronna)
Jason Schwartzman	...	Ethan Dulles
Jaime King	...	Angela Patton (as James King)
Laura Prepon	...	Reanna
Travis Davis	...	Airborne Express Driver
Jim Rash	...	Head T.A. Philip
Nat Faxon	...	Karl, the Grad Student
Don Michaelson	...	Professor Markoe (as Don Michaelson M.D.)
Retta	...	Bruna, the Office Manager
Marilyn Staley	...	Singing Waitress
Jason Garner	...	Singing Waiter
Gedde Watanabe	...	Japanese Proctor
Heidi Kramer	...	Hot Twin #1

Storyline

Dave, Sam and Jeff are about to graduate from Holden University with Honors in lying, cheating and scheming. The three roommates have proudly scammed their way through the last four years of college and now, during the final exams, these big-men-on-campus are about to be busted by the most unlikely dude in school.

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Plot Keywords:

nerd | blackmail | slacker | male objectification | hot | 

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Taglines:

Everyone wants to be one

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and sexual content, and for brief drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was sold to Sony for distribution because the original distributor Destination Films went bankrupt.

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Goofs

In the scene where the guys are getting Carl to fill out the Physics test, they pass him a joint, but it the next shot Sam is holding it and in the shot after Carl is passing it back to Sam.

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Quotes

Dave: It was my fate to meet her.
Jeff: But it wasn't your fate to be with her. Unfortunately, my friend, fate has a different plan for you. You will grow up, go out into the world. You'll forget all about the things that happened here. Ethan, Angela... the shit we pulled. Those hookers that we thought were girls. And you're going to go out there and no-one - no-one can shoot you down because a woman one time stepped on your heart and left a scar in its wake. That is your fate, Dave. Just as it is my fate ...

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Crazy Credits

Outtake footage featuring Jason Schwartzman and Cameron Diaz is shown after the end credits. She looks at the camera and says, "I've never done a porno before". He responds, "Until now, bitch!".

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Connections

Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Most Underrated Teen Movies of the 2000s (2019)

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Soundtracks

Holy Calamity
Written by John Davis, Dan The Automator, Prince Paul
Performed by Handsome Boy Modeling School
Courtesy of Tommy Boy Music

User Reviews

Slackers Adjectives

Slackers is one of the most unbalanced, bizarre movies I have ever seen! Half is chock-full of sexually charged, psychedelic, often disturbing, gross-out gags while the other is a tame, boring, run of the mill love story (lots of adjectives, I know). Despite its flaws though I found that on second viewing Slackers became a considerably more respectable movie then I had originally thought. Firstly, it has a great soundtrack which includes an orchestrated version of "Baba O'Reilly" and a choir version of "the Sign". Secondly, it has Jason Schwartzman and Michael C. Maronna whose craziness plays well off the gross-out gags. Finally, I'd like to commend this movie for how insane it really is once you get passed the boring plot.

Unfortunately I can't bring myself to like Devon Sawa, whose great guy that gets the girl is utterly pathetic and too counter crazy to help this movie. Whenever things start to pick up it seems his character is always there to slow them down again. Jason Segel is also a difficult actor to like because his high-school/college stoner persona is always clouded by his naivety. And while we're on the subject my college experience showed me more sarcastic college characters (like the T.A.) then ones naive enough to believe in "true love". The final problem I have is that although I like Jason Schwartzman, its hard to find his psychotic character all that funny.

Final verdict is a 6 of 10

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Scam

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,785,283, 3 February 2002

Gross USA:

$5,285,941

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,413,915

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alliance Atlantis Communications, Destination Films, Original Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1