"SubUrbia'' has been directed by Richard Linklater, whose movie "Slacker" (1991) gave a name to part of a generation, and whose "Dazed and Confused" (1993) caught much of its tone. Now, working from a screenplay by Eric Bogosian, he takes the despair of "Waiting for Godot'' and tops it: His heroes aren't waiting as a mission, but as a lifestyle.
The movie is dark, intense and disturbing. It takes place during a long night when the crowd in the parking lot is awaiting the appearance of a friend of theirs who has *made* it. His name is Pony (Jayce Bartok), and the last time they saw him, he was the geek who was singing folk songs at the senior prom. Now, suddenly, amazingly, he is a rock star. He has promised to drop by and see them after his concert.
Among the slackers leaning against the brick wall, the dominant figure is Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi). He is darkly handsome, sardonic, intelligent and utterly clueless. The depth of his alienation is established the first time we see him: He lives in a pup tent in his parents' garage and communicates with his friends by cell phone.
He has been dating Sooze (Amie Carey), but that's about to end because she plans to move to New York and attend an art school. The fact that she has plans is a rebuke, in a way. In one of the movie's best scenes, she does a performance piece by the cold light of a bakery window, attacking testosterone as the enemy of civilization (her hit list ranges from Pope John Paul II to Howard Stern).
Back at the parking lot, their friends include Tim (Nicky Katt), an Air Force dropout who is hard at work perfecting his alcoholism; Sooze's best pal Bee-Bee (Dana Spybey), who is out of rehab but very shaky, and Buff (Steve Zahn), who cherishes his reputation as a nut who will do anything for attention. As they wait for Pony to arrive, they shift restlessly against the wall, perch on an iron bar, and sometimes fight new engagements in their running battle with the Pakistanis (Ajay Naidu and Samia Shoaib), who in this movie represent traditional American values.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46srJutope2onmQcnBw