Sadly Over-hyped

Fantastic!

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

It is true that American film "Slacker" is inundated with a lot of idlers,social misfits and other "good for nothing" characters but they do not engage in any kind of idle talk.One could have any idea,opinion about them but they need to be praised for possessing deep knowledge of their subjects.They are able to impress others around them solely due to their widespread knowledge of various subjects.For example : one of the characters speaks about Kennedy Assassination as if he has been invited by authorities to report it.There is not much which happens as "Slacker" is devoid of any plot.In this sense,it is an acute as well meaningful observation of people who belong to a certain milieu.The walks depicted in "Slacker" have a special quality as it enables them to effortlessly more from one topic to another without bothering to establish any coherent link between former and latter."Slacker" is a film which needs to be watched as its credo is to tell by showing instead of "Show but don't tell".

A film that is plot less and based on pure conversations that are incoherent and yet so interesting. This is remarkable filming.This film is an evocative reflection of an American Community based in Texas and it reflects it so aptly and in sync with the title Slacker. "Slacker" refers to a person who lacks work ethic or who avoids work. Most of the characters, just speak and there work is never shown. What they do, why they do that. All this is not mentioned for most characters. They just speak something. For most of the time, there dialogs actually mean nothing and may even some gibberish, unless you pay attention to the subtexts. Indeed, they have a profound meaning underground and they are interesting too. Just have the patience of paying attention and you will be rewarded.Richard Linklater made remarkable films. From the "Before" trilogy to his most provocative and philosophical "Waking Life". I suppose so, that "Slacker" is indeed a prequel to "Waking Life" where conversations mean everything, characters are just real characters, who speak their mind, and there is no coherence to relate the whole film to a story. So those are the similarities of these two films and yet there are many differences too, which I better not discuss here. Linklater's eye for detail and understanding nuances of a whole community and capturing them as if they are all impromptu is indeed wonderful. This sets the film apart and the structure is rather stunning and yet so simple, indeed, the structure is just a flow of characters. One character leaves and other picks it up and sometimes the new character was part of the previous frame or scene too. So the structure could have been new in 1991 for many, but such structure came in 1929 with "Man with a Movie Camera". Now, what's outstanding though is the dialog. Linklater has a gift for provoking thoughts with his dialogs and this perhaps is his earliest instance where he showcased in talent in full flow. This was made on a shoe-string budget of $23000 (courtesy : Wikipedia). Considering that, this is made wonderfully. Also, this film was shot on a span of few days only in Austin, Texas. So, this is a wonderful attempt in Independent films and it has raised the bar for writing and dialog. The production values are not great but manageable. The editing is superb and the cinematography fine. Other aspects of acting are just apt. So all in all technically it was a great attempt with the budget it had.I liked this film but this cannot be visited multiple times as the dialogs are interesting but are limiting with the characters. Thus, I am going with a 3/5 for a good film.

This was the directorial debut of Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, School of Rock, Boyhood), I may have heard about it previously, but I was mostly attracted due to its placing in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Basically the film is a plot less day in the life of an ensemble of unrelated and almost unconnected twenty something characters, predominantly social outcasts and misfits, in Austin, Texas, the structure is unique but straight forward as each one is introduced. The various characters are seen in conversation for no more than a few minutes before moving on to the next one, but what all of them have in common is that that do not not fit into the norm of society. These include a highly talkative taxi passenger (Richard Linklater) who after a long chat almost to himself says "Should Have Stayed at Bus Station", a UFO enthusiast and buff who has a theory and insists that since the 1950's the United States have never been to the moon, and a character who has conspiracy theories about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a man robbing an elderly man's house and the old anarchist owner makes friendly conversation with him, a serial collector of television sets, and a hippie woman (Teresa Taylor) who has a Madonna pap smear and is trying to sell it. You never find out the real names of these eccentric characters, but the main topics of conversation for most of them is why they seem to be excluded socially and politically marginalised, they talk about their class, their lack of jobs, media being controlled by the government, and just generally their conspiracy theories and philosophies. Also starring Rudy Basquez as Taxi Driver, Jean Caffeine as Roadkill, Jan Hockey as Jogger, Stephan Hockey as Running Late and Mark James as Hit-and-Run Son. This offbeat and low budget teen movie of sorts is a good start for a director like Linklater, it certainly gives you an idea of the sort of films he would later become popular for, it is pretty much just dialogue and odd characters, but that is why it is really interesting. Most of the conversations you listen to throughout do have some relevance, it might not be to the tastes of all who watch it, but overall I found it an enjoyable enough cult comedy. Good!

This film about Texas misfits gets off to a somewhat amusing start as Linklater, the writer-director himself, takes a cab ride and rambles off for several minutes about alternate universes and the roads not taken to the disinterested cab driver. When he reaches his destination, however, the focus shifts to another character that Linkletter passes on the street. Then it's on to another unrelated vignette and another and so on. It seems that each segment is less interesting than the one that preceded it. About half way through, the concept runs out of steam and film really begins to drag. It's an interesting concept that would have worked better if Linklater's script were actually funny. Alas, the laughs are few and far between.