Reality Bites
Generation X Graduates face life after college with a filmmaker looking for work and love in Houston.
- Director:Ben Stiller
- Genre:Comedy / Drama / Romance
- Runtime:94 minutes
Cast
Winona Ryder : Lelaina Pierce
Ethan Hawke : Troy Dyer
Janeane Garofalo: Vickie Miner
Steve Zahn : Sammy Gray
Ben Stiller : Michael Grates
The film focuses on four friends living in Houston, Texas. Long-time friend, temporary roommate and coffee-house guitarist Troy (Hawke) and budding filmaker Lelaina (Ryder) are attracted to each other, though it’s an attraction that neither of them has really acted upon, one alcohol-influenced event in the past notwithstanding. He’s a slacker and nihilist grunge rock musician by night, while losing job after job in a series of minimum wage dead end endeavors during the day – the last of which he loses early in the film because of stealing a candy bar from his employer. Lelaina on the other hand was valedictorian of her university, and has aspirations to become a documentarian, although initially having to settle for a position as production assistant to an obnoxious TV host.
Lelaina meets Michael (Ben Stiller) when she throws a cigarette into his convertible, causing him to crash into her car. The two soon begin to date. He works at an MTV-like cable channel called “In Your Face” as an executive, and after learning about a documentary she’s been working on, he wants to get it aired on his network.
Lelaina’s roommate Vickie (Janeane Garofalo) has a series of one-night stands and short relationships with dozens of guys (In some cases she doesn’t even remember their name), motivated by a fear of being alone compounded by a fear of rejection; her promiscuity leads her to confront a very-real risk of contracting AIDS after a former fling tests positive for HIV. Vickie works as a sales associate for The Gap. She is later promoted to manager. (a position that she appears to be content with.)
Friend Sammy (Steve Zahn) is gay; he remains celibate, not because of a fear of AIDS, but because forming a relationship would force him to come out to his conservative parents. He later decides to come out to his mother. Read more
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