Romantic Film review - Reality Bites

So, can you believe Reality Bites is twenty this year?
I watched it again a couple of weeks ago, just to have another peek and see if it has stood the test of time. The answer to that question is, I have no idea, because I just fell in love with it all over again, and officially have absolutely no idea if its just because I love it or because it really is as cool as I think it is that it still looks so cool - if you can work out what the hell I mean by that.

Ok, so I love Reality Bites. I thought Ethan Hawke was the hottest thing on the planet in that film - and I have to say, I still do. He is SO sexy as the moody Cobain-esque Troy that I thought I would die of pleasure all over again. Forget that I saw him as old as me in Before Midnight this year, I loved watching him all dark and Gen-X. I thought he was so 'real' and 'soulful' when I first watched this film. Over time I saw him as a spoiled pretentious brat who can't play an instrument for shit. Now, twenty years on, the older wiser me, sees him as 'real' and 'soulful' again.

Which, lets face it, is totally what you want from Reality Bites.

What I didn't know from Reality Bites was that we used to all be so precious about divorced parents. My god, they go on and on about how close to totally fucked up they are because their parents are divorcing - HA! Can you imagine that today? You'd so be told to harden up. I also didn't realize how bad Lelaina's (Winona Ryder) documentary about her friends actually is, nor how unbelievably cool Vickie (Jeanne Garofalo) was. The dance scene to 'My Sharona' is still cool as cool, even if we have all done it a hundred times and seven-eleven's really aren't quite the generational statement Ben Stiller thought they were.

I did, however, have a hundred moments of hard core clothing memory, as calf length dresses in green with polka dots, Mary Janes, round ray bans, huge vests, hair slicked to my forehead at the front and layered at the back, headbands, mascara and red lipstick, and giant oversize shirts came flooding back.

If you're in your late thirties, early forties and have been married all that time, you should treat yourselves to a Reality Bites night. Get rid of the kids for the night, get a pack of cigarettes, a bottle of cheap wine, a lot of coffee, and some hotdogs, and play your old records really loud, and watch Reality Bites.
Don't forget The Knack Cd's.