The dispiriting nature of 2020 has me missing the 90s now more than ever. “Reality Bites” offers an escape to a simpler time of VCR tapes, coffee shop bands, and rotary phones, while leaving a charming rom-com in its wake. The parallels between today’s youth and Generation X are astounding, and writer Helen Childress explores the ups and downs of a group of young friends in a bleak and heartless post-collegiate world. Relatable issues are touched upon, including a rampant and deadly virus (HIV), mounting student debt, a dearth of decent paying jobs, and endless blame for the previous generation. Sound familiar?
Set in Houston, the year is 1994, and four friends face various challenges with their careers and social lives. Winona Ryder plays Lelaina Pierce, valedictorian of her college and aspiring filmmaker. Lelaina works a thankless job while recording a documentary about the lives of her friends. As Lelaina Pierce, Ryder is the perfect choice in both her acting style and physical appearance. She’s overeducated and underskilled, traits explored with her depressing job search and artistic expression with her film. “I was really going to be somebody by the time I was 23.” The character explains. Ryder has had a career that started in the late 80s and continues today with the popular Netflix series “Stranger Things.” She’s likable and the true star of the movie.
Like Ryder, Ethan Hawke has the attributes of a Gen Xer, and as the character Troy Dyer, perfectly represents the quintessential twentysomething slacker of the era. Hawke became famous for his role in “Dead Poets Society” in 1989, and has been a mainstay since that time. Troy is the intellectual member of the group; too cerebral to sell out with an actual corporate job, even if it means being perennially broke and sleeping on a friends couch. The potential romance between Lelaina and Troy is what makes the movie gel, and the interactions between Ryder and Hawke is a thing of beauty. They have a chemistry and each enjoys challenging the other in conversation, all while trying to navigate the pressures of the landscape. “I just don’t understand why things can’t go back to normal at the end of the half hour like on the Brady Bunch.” Lelaina asks as she deals with a host of issues. “Well,” Troy replies earnestly, “’cause Mr. Brady died of AIDS. Things don’t turn out like that.”
The cast is complete with Janeane Garofalo as Vickie, the outspoken member of the group, boasting that memorizing her social security number was the only thing she learned in college, Steve Zahn as Sammy a great ancillary character, though given the least amount to work with, and Ben Stiller as Michael, the anti-Troy and safe romantic escape for Lelaina. Stiller would also make his directorial debut with the film. Andy Dick, David Spade, and John Mahoney (‘Frasier’) add comical cameo roles.
“Reality Bites” succeeds with its cast, witty dialogue, and the simplicity of the time from where it comes. An iconic scene depicting the friends dancing along to a song playing on the radio can be lost in a universe where any piece of music ever recorded can be summoned with the tips of our fingers. There is also a great first date scene between Lelaina and Michael that mixes the simplicity of the time with the need for a romantic chemistry lost in today’s world of dating apps. The soundtrack is an excellent mix of 80s and 90s tracks that anyone from that time period would be jamming out to.
“Reality Bites” is a great movie that highlights the last generation of folks that were kids in the 1980s and young adults in the 1990s. A generation that played with toys and bucked the trends of fashion. A generation that was naïve to the terrors of the world that we’re ripe with today. While a simple love story at heart, it’s a deeper exercise in the analysis of a different period in time.
