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Yeah, I saw a preview screening of it on Wednesday, and Hoberman is essentially spot on. The first half is very funny, the second half drags up until a decently thrilling ending. I recommend if you havent read his review though, not to read it as he subtly spoils the key twist of the film.

While Max Minghella's acting is weak, the supporting cast is strong and the film had enough jokes to at least keep me entertained. Not as memorable as Ghost World, and probably wont pick up the mainstream audience Bad Santa enjoys.

The end.

I have no idea where to start. Since I quite liked “Ghost World,â€

From the trailer I thought this one looked a little lame as you put it Dylan and you seem to echo my fears of how this one would turn out in your comments. I am most certainly a fan of Ghost World and of Crumb so it was a bit disappointing to be so turned off by the trailer. I have had my share of art school time in a bit of a different form than this so I was hoping he'd pull it off better. Oh well, it happens.

Spoilers:

What really bothers me about this film is why in the hell the character would put those paintings up at the gallery if it was so utterly, stupifyingly obvious that evidence from the crimes (such as a blood-stained license, jewelry, or family photos!?) were pasted all over them? And why was he going to kill himself afterwards? Sorry, girl troubles aren't good enough. Or how about that scene where the guy beats up the old man actor who's shooting blanks from a gun...I mean, what the hell, did the filmmakers not think we haven't seen that gag a million times before? Or Jim Broadbent's one-dimensional pervert who becomes the painfully anonymous (or characteristically lazy) villain who dies (along with every tenant in an entire fucking apartment building?) because a cigarette wasn't entirely put out? Come on! It's a poor script.

And the whole, person becoming successful while in jail thing was pulled off so flawlessly over twenty years ago in "King of Comedy" and here it's so senselessly tacked on. And with the "Pickpocket" thing...

And I must add that the entire 'art school' concept was already done better by the filmmakers in those great scenes with Illeana Douglas in "Ghost World." A lot of "Art School Confidential" seemed like pale imitations of those scenes.

[quote="Dylan"]With that said, I did laugh a couple times, even though nothing I laughed at was particularly original. I really liked Max Minghella, a lot, even though the severely underwritten, senseless, unmotivated part was calling nothing from him. The art chicks were cute to look at…actually that was the best part. And when the best part of a film is looking at girls you know you're in big trouble. The next film Zwigoff and Clowes make will be the real indicator or their filmmaking career. Should they make a film worse than “Art School Confidential,â€

This overlooked gem of a film is getting a Blu-ray release on October 9 from niche label MVD Visual

...kind of looking forward to seeing this again since my memory of it is very hazy, along with the (totally unrelated) but also soon to be released Under Capricorn. I'd say the same about I Heart Huckabees, but it still isn't on blu, and I visited its thread once...some threads on this site are basically the not safe part of town and/or never go back to that place again thread.

I revisited it a couple years ago and was very pleased with it all over again. LQ fell asleep.

I think the primary problem upon release is that people were expecting something completely different. As far as I'm concerned, it's more relevant today than it was then, so maybe it can catch a little bit of a cult audience. But probably not. Everyone seemed to hate this one.

Very happy to hear about this release. I've always felt the movie has been overlooked when it was released.

I never read the graphic novel, but after Ghost World, I expected a lot more. Considering I was an art student at the time, I anticipated something really funny, but the jokes were like shooting fish in a barrel. As someone said above, the art class scenes in Ghost World weren’t improved upon here.

Apart from that I remember a clumsy attempt to disguise a law enforcement officer as a student by making him like Fountains of Wayne, and a rather lame murder plot.

It’s hard to imagine a worse movie. It’s probably no wonder nothing much has followed this one...

bearcuborg wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:12 pm It’s hard to imagine a worse movie.

It is?

I've seen Justice League this year, A Good Day To Die Hard last year, and Suicide Squad and Satan's Blade in 2016, so there are at least these (to me), and they were very easy to recall (sadly).

bearcuborg wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:12 pm
It’s hard to imagine a worse movie. It’s probably no wonder nothing much has followed this one...

Overstatement of the year? This isn't a successful film, but neither is it awful. It's just similar to many other, better films. But I'd say its still a decent film. Not one I'm in any hurry to watch (and I do wish to rewatch all of Zwigoff's other films) but it's OK.
On a different note, whatever happened to Zwigoff? What is he up to these days? While Crumb unseen and this being just average, I adore his other films very much

I went to Sheridan college in Ontario for a year, which is known for its art department, particularly its animation courses that churned out fresh meat for Disney yearly, and I think the film resonated more with me because of that experience. I can't speak for other art schools but this film fits with that school. I get the complaint the satire might be too obvious or easy but it's targets are easy game to begin with. I knew just about every character in this film, hoping for fame and/or fortune more than much else, or the teachers full of shit and themselves. And looking up a few people years ago they pretty much went nowhere.

The murder plot doesn't always feel like it fits but then it ends up paying off in the end. Sure, it's obvious and not original but really not off the mark, either.

Perhaps this one of those cases where the previous work of the filmmaker set the bar too high (Wet Hot American Summer>The Ten - The Fall>Immortals) but I’m pretty confident labeling the later movies, and this one, as pretty terrible.

In this case though, I went to see it less for Zwigoff than I did the art school material. The classroom scenes in Ghost World were pretty spot on, the art stuff in this one felt like a cheesy sitcom-not out of place in something like Saved By the Bell.

If memory serves, I remember thinking Jim Broadbent shines in just about anything.

Having been working now for about 8 years at my state’s biggest art/dance/theatre/music/film&TV-focussed university, I’m curious to see for myself what this film’s like all these years later. Though at the time I definitely watched it for the Daniel Clowes connection more than anything else.

Amazon says MVD Marquee's release of the film has been pushed back to November 6th. The pre-order price is a steal, though, so there's that.