Kicking and Screaming (1995, R)

Written and Directed by Noah Baumbach

Story by Noah Baumbach and Oliver Berkman

Starring Josh Hamilton, Sam Gould, Catherine Kellner, Eric Stoltz, Olivia d'Abo, Christopher Eigeman, and Parker Posey

As Reviewed by James Brundage (MovieKritic2000)

The question that one is immortally faced with as a critic is one of personal interpretation. You see a movie and it could be taken one of two or more ways, often making the difference between a completely terrible film and a great literary document.

In a more outlandish example we had 1997's Starship Troopers, a film that could very well be viewed as an anti-fascist document and a representation of Nazism. However, with exuberantly high and seemingly useless body count, Starship Troopers got a bad review from me on the account that it was your standard-edition, boring-as-anything, action film.

There were people who took Starship Troopers in just this aspect, said that it was a great film, and had a points so good that they could not be logically countered.

Similarly, we are faced with the 1995 film Kicking and Screaming, which was said to do for college what Dazed and Confused did for high school. Yes, it's undeniably funny. Yes, its dialogue is so razor sharp that it cuts through any obstacle and right into your funny bone.

But the problem is that, in the method it is done, one would expect a huge point to come at the end of it. Sadly, it doesn't. It is one of those films that does not end, only stops dead in its tracks.

Were this just any film with just any apparent point of illustration I would decry the pointlessness of the movie simply stopping and leave it as just a mildly entertaining movie. But here's the rub: Kicking and Screaming is an illustration of the directionless nature of post-college life.

As far as plot goes, that's just about it. Grover (Josh Hamilton) is trying to get over Jane (Olivia d'Abo), who went to Prague. Max (Christopher Eigeman) is trying to decide where to go in love and life after a basically useless philosophy degree, but ends up just spending time sleeping with freshmen. Chet (Eric Stoltz) is trying to finally work his way to a degree but is content to merely be a student.

The ending of Kicking and Screaming, which doesn't even have a fade out (the credits just suddenly start), could be viewed as an illustration of the lack of direction that the characters have. However, it could also just be viewed as a bad ending... an anticlimax.

The movie is able to pull its weight with an incredibly witty repartee throughout the 96-minute running time, but is unable to go beyond the point of just jokes. Were this from the studio world, which is strictly a business and is more for love of money than trying to do art, I could understand and write the lack of a good ending on script doctors who are only good with good lines, but instead this is what is called "an Independent masterpiece."

To me this spells a slight bit of hypocrisy on behalf of the viewing public. If someone were willing to patron and love Kicking and Screaming on the merit of repartee alone, than, by that argument, great one-liners would make a great film. On this same line of logic, a movie with great action sequences is a great film.

You could subdivide and say that a movie with great dialogue makes a great independent film, but that would be another cop-out. Studio films may not always have great dialogue, but neither do Independents. In fact, the only difference I have ever discerned between Studio films and Independents (budget aside) is that most Independent films could not successfully be pitched to studios.

Perhaps I am seeing this all wrong. Perhaps pointlessness being the point is something that has just flown over my head this time. But, you know what, if someone has to wonder if you have a point or are just out for cash, you didn't do a good job.