Slacker

1991
7| 1h37m| R| en| More Info
Released: 05 July 1991 Released
Producted By: Detour Filmproduction
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Austin, Texas, is an Eden for the young and unambitious, from the enthusiastically eccentric to the dangerously apathetic. Here, the nobly lazy can eschew responsibility in favor of nursing their esoteric obsessions. The locals include a backseat philosopher who passionately expounds on his dream theories to a seemingly comatose cabbie, a young woman who tries to hawk Madonna's Pap test to anyone who will listen and a kindly old anarchist looking for recruits.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Richard Linklater

Production Companies

Detour Filmproduction

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Slacker Audience Reviews

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
saylub Slacker defies categorization. IMDb lists it as Drama and Comedy because they have to put it in a genre. The camera follows one person or group until someone leaves the group thus giving the story the cue to focus on another character that enters the screen. You could say it's a movie about nothing, like how Seinfeld is a show about nothing. It's about normal life, with some of the moments having the potential to be dramatic. These moments are not shot in a dramatic way, however. If Linklater had chosen to do that there would be more emphasis given to one character over another, which the movie is intent on not doing, maintaining a steady pace of moving from one person and situation to another. There is no conflict to be resolved, another reason it makes it hard to consider it a drama. So the movie is more focused on style rather than story. Once you realize that this movie is unconventional you can enjoy it for what it is and what it won't be. As for the comedy aspect, there are moments that I laughed. I couldn't tell whether the moments were meant to be funny, though, which made them even more funny. So it was like my first watching of Napoleon Dynamite, moments I laughed but wasn't sure if they were meant to be funny because it was so weird and unlike anything else I had ever seen. I was impressed with how well they did and how much money they made with the little budget they had. They used hardly anyone with acting experience and yet they were believably real characters. If you like indie or unconventional movies, watch Slacker.
Mike Bozart I give this movie a 9 just for how unique the story-line (or non- story-line) is. 20-something characters and scenes come and go, seemingly at random in Austin, TX in the early 1990s. The fluid segue technique is like nothing I have seen before. There's some 'Butterfly Effect' sprinkled in. Truly, a one-of-a-kind film. You don't have to be a Gen-X/Y to like it; I'm an old goat, and I loved it and will re-watch it tonight.
FilmCriticLalitRao It is true that American film "Slacker" is inundated with a lot of idlers,social misfits and other "good for nothing" characters but they do not engage in any kind of idle talk.One could have any idea,opinion about them but they need to be praised for possessing deep knowledge of their subjects.They are able to impress others around them solely due to their widespread knowledge of various subjects.For example : one of the characters speaks about Kennedy Assassination as if he has been invited by authorities to report it.There is not much which happens as "Slacker" is devoid of any plot.In this sense,it is an acute as well meaningful observation of people who belong to a certain milieu.The walks depicted in "Slacker" have a special quality as it enables them to effortlessly more from one topic to another without bothering to establish any coherent link between former and latter."Slacker" is a film which needs to be watched as its credo is to tell by showing instead of "Show but don't tell".
Red_Identity Obviously for those wondering about this film, you pretty much get the gist of what it's about. It's definitely experimental, even moreso than what I thought. Because of the poster you assume there's still a lead protagonist, but nope. It really only follows these people and what they believe in, their everyday activities, their life and their culture. A lot of this is really funny, and much of it also sort of hard to get into simply because of the format. I recommend this, but with reservations. I don't think it's one of Linklater's best films, but one of his mot admirable and probably one of his most influential as well, if not the most.