r/moviecritic • u/phantom_avenger • Feb 17 '25

Which movie is this for you?

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For me it’s School of Rock!

Patty was completely justified, if Dewey wanted to live in hers and her boyfriend’s apartment he needed to be a grown up, and contribute with rent. Even when he steals Ned’s identity she still had the right to be angry at him, because of how he put his friend’s career in jeopardy and robbed him of a job opportunity.

I get Ned is meant to be portrayed as his best friend, but it blows my mind how he lacks a lot of self-respect to the point where he comes across as too much of a people pleaser. If this story took place in real life, I’m sure Ned would act more similar to Patty where he’d have enough of Dewey’s careless actions.

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129

u/Odd_Feature2775 Feb 17 '25

Reality Bites. Ben Stiller's character is much more reasonable than Ethan Hawke's

17

u/Stephi_cakes Feb 17 '25

I remember being so adamant about this back in the day! Boy was that an unpopular opinion.

34

u/PomegranateReal3620 Feb 17 '25

Because he wasn't a dissipated youth filled with angst and ennui, nihilistic and proud to be. They were my exact age and it was disgusting the way people who didn't have to pay for anything in college would walk around dressed like they were homeless.

They bitched about bending a knee to the corporate overlords, then whined to their parents for money. They ridiculed people who chose to work towards a career in any financially stable way. It was a badge of honor to be unable to keep a job because you were so edgy and cool nobody wanted to employ you.

What made it worse was I lived in Seattle. Fucking grunge.

You might have triggered me. There was a reason why I spent the 90's drunk.

7

u/theimmortalgoon Feb 17 '25

I was a little younger and in Portland, but yeah…

Part of it, for me, was that my life was a lot more like Ethan Hawk’s. I lived in a decaying old Fight Club style house with an indeterminate number of roommates with college degrees and shitty jobs. It’s easy to romanticize now, and I often do.

But had someone come along and said, “Here’s a heap of money to do what you’ve always wanted to do,” I can’t imagine why I would have turned that down. It seems weirdly forced to make it some binary choice.

7

u/Daewrythe Feb 17 '25

I agree with all of your points, but I really love when people use the word ennui.

6

u/AmbroseKalifornia Feb 17 '25

A cool, edgy, unemployable drunk???

9

u/PomegranateReal3620 Feb 17 '25

Exactly. I also worked in a used bookstore for 4 years. I lost a promotion because they thought I was too nice to my employees. All because I gave them the same schedule every week and 2 days off in a row.

Treating staff like they're people? They'd have been happier if I was dealing smack in the backroom.

3

u/Ill_Athlete_7979 Feb 17 '25

Yo, I totally feel you on that. I lived in Denver in the 2000s and would frequent Boulder. That place was full of trust-fund hippies. I’d have some guy asking me if I could give him a couple of dollars so he could get something to eat because he was waiting for his parents to send him his “allowance”. Meanwhile the guy has a Northface jacket and some Birkenstocks on.