Parents' Guide to

Slacker

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Witty, wordy '90s indie has sex, cursing, violence.

Movie R 1991 97 minutes
Slacker Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In SLACKER, a man (Richard Linklater) gets off the bus and hails a cab. He tells the driver about a dream he had involving alternate realities. He leaves the cab near the scene of an accident, and we follow another young man, who is eventually arrested for causing the accident. Two other young men pass near him, and we follow them. Over the course of the day, we meet several 20-something residents of Austin, Texas, most of whom have some kind of theory about the world and the way it works or should work. Most of them are artists of some kind and few hold jobs. There is a UFO conspiracist, a JFK assassination buff, an anarchist, a guy who collects television sets, a guy fixing his car, and a guy simply trying to read a paper. As the sun sets, bands play in clubs, and the conversations continue into the night.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Funny and appealingly weird, this was the 1991 breakthrough feature by Richard Linklater (Boyhood), taking a clever, almost experimental approach to a snapshot of disaffected youth of the time. Actors appear and deliver dialogue that's either hilariously banal or hilariously detailed, and then disappear, never to be seen again, while someone in the background suddenly becomes the new main character. Each new character lasts only a few minutes, but the bigger picture is one of the most memorable movies about young people trying to find themselves. They are, for the most part, smart and idealistic, but are unable to figure out how to make all that work in the real world -- a mindset that is instantly identifiable to nearly any big-city college grad.

Linklater shot cheaply, with many long takes and relatively few cuts, and even a scene shot on a Fisher Price PixelVision camera. Some semi-famous musicians and artists were cast for the ultra-hip to identify. Slacker was a mini-phenomenon, highly influential in some circles, inspiring artists ranging from filmmaker Kevin Smith to the band R.E.M. Seen today, it looks pretty ragged, and, in truth, it looks a bit old, but not so much that some of today's disaffected youth wouldn't get something worthwhile out of it.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Slacker's depictions of violence and sex. Are these things verbalized more than they're shown? How is the effect different, if at all?

  • How does the movie show smoking? Is it glamorized? Are there consequences? Does the movie's age matter?

  • How has the movie aged? Is it still relevant to a younger generation of viewers? Is it more like a classic or an artifact of another time?

  • How does the movie's experimental technique work? Does it allow you to care about characters? Is it interesting?

  • What is the movie's depiction of intelligence and education like? Does it make these things seem admirable? Are they portrayed in a negative way?

Movie Details

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