Can I say candyass on IMDB? I can safely call myself a Gen-Xer, not as a point of pride or shame, just as a matter of statistical fact. I graduated from high school in 1990 and I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard that Kurt Cobain was dead. This ain't Gen-X. This is a sorry attempt to remake Fast Times at Ridgemont High for Generation X. [Note: I didn't realize until after I wrote that sentence that Cameron Crowe was responsible for both movies. That explains a lot.]
Singles gets all the details down (the long hair, the leather jacket, the coffee, the slacker waitress job, the communal living, the Seattle, the mountain bikes, the... recycling). But the wholesome, well-scrubbed boys and girls in the cast bear no resemblance to anyone I ever knew in the early 90s. With all due respect for Pearl Jam and Soundgarden (and a lot of respect is due) a thin veneer of their music can't save this movie. If Gen-X meant anything at all, it surely meant that chicks had other things to do than get decked out in slick suits and go get breast enlargements like Bridget Fonda does (on a waitress's income?!) to make their greaseball rocker boyfriends happy. I've got nothing against breast enhancement, but that's not what the early 90s were about. This is the Hollywood-cheeseball version of the Gen-X story. It is safe enough for your grandmother. You want Gen-X? Go watch My Own Private Idaho or any episode of the Simpsons or even The Blair Witch Project. This ain't Gen-X.
Singles gets all the details down (the long hair, the leather jacket, the coffee, the slacker waitress job, the communal living, the Seattle, the mountain bikes, the... recycling). But the wholesome, well-scrubbed boys and girls in the cast bear no resemblance to anyone I ever knew in the early 90s. With all due respect for Pearl Jam and Soundgarden (and a lot of respect is due) a thin veneer of their music can't save this movie. If Gen-X meant anything at all, it surely meant that chicks had other things to do than get decked out in slick suits and go get breast enlargements like Bridget Fonda does (on a waitress's income?!) to make their greaseball rocker boyfriends happy. I've got nothing against breast enhancement, but that's not what the early 90s were about. This is the Hollywood-cheeseball version of the Gen-X story. It is safe enough for your grandmother. You want Gen-X? Go watch My Own Private Idaho or any episode of the Simpsons or even The Blair Witch Project. This ain't Gen-X.