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Reality Bites wants more than anything to tell us what
is “real”. In fact, every scene seems to scream, “This
is real. Everything else is not.” This sense of an awareness
of reality protrudes even deeper into the film, marking not only
the theme of the text itself, but also the subject of the plot.
Thus, we get a dual level of reality. Winona Ryder’s character
is trying to portray reality with her documentary video, while
Director Ben Stiller is trying to portray reality to us with Reality
Bites.
The story revolves around four friends, Lelaina (Wynona Ryder),
her college valedictorian; Vicki (Janeane Garofalo), a Gap employee;
Sammy (Steve Zahn), their gay friend; and Troy (Ethan Hawke),
an unemployed philosophy major who is in love with Lelaina. Tensions
abound in the house as Michael (Ben Stiller) comes into the picture
and begins dating Lelaina, thus creating a difficult love triangle
with Troy. Michael and Troy basically believe each other to be
“fake” and Lelaina has a difficult time trying to
figure it out.
The characters, for all their lowliness, are engaging, and yes,
even real. Real in the sense that you really do know people like
these guys. Real in the sense that their problems are all too
common. Most of all, real in the sense that they are almost completely
fake. And that fakeness is in the sense that they are unwilling
to come to terms with reality and are putting up a front until
they find it.
Lelaina is tries to create a documentary about her friends and
all their problems but Michael, a TV executive, turns her work
into a superficial, commercial pop show reminiscent of "The
Real World". Here is where we run into problems. First of
all, Reality Bites itself is only a precursor to "The
Real World". Its commercialized package with a title the
likes of Reality Bites feels like its trying too hard to tell
us what reality really is. And thus, the film itself, in trying
so hard to not be fake, drifts away from The Real.
More significant is the contrast of Michael and Troy. The film
is pretty self-conscience of its attempts towards making Troy
out to be the real deal. Ben Stiller provides for many of the
funnier moments of the film as Michael immediately catches onto
Troy and lays him out for who he really is. Ethan Hawke, meanwhile,
perfectly portrays the intelligent, apathetic, lethargic, and
sensitive Troy.
The resolution of the love conflict feels rushed; I don’t
feel like we are really given significant evidence for Lelaina’s
choosing to make the decision she does in the end. The most significant
problem is that neither the characters nor the story are ever redeeming.
Troy undergoes a minor change of heart, but nothing convincing.
The characters, for all their realism, are as fake and shallow as
people come. Are we supposed to have sympathy for these characters
because they’re “real”? These characters, although
interesting at times, are, nevertheless, still all candidates for
an appearance on "Jerry Springer". So really, the fact
that these characters have been weaved into a film that is both
humorous and engaging says something for writer Helen Childress
and director Ben Stiller. These guys are for real.
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