Reality Bites

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Reality Bites

Theatrical poster
Directed by Ben Stiller
Produced by Danny DeVito
Michael Shamberg
Written by Helen Childress
Starring Winona Ryder
Ben Stiller
Ethan Hawke
Janeane Garofalo
Steve Zahn
Music by Karl Wallinger
Cinematography Emmanuel Lubezki
Editing by Lisa Zeno Churgin
John Spence
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) February 18, 1994
Running time 99 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $11,000,000 (USA)
Gross revenue $20,982,557 (USA)
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Reality Bites is a 1994 film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. It stars Stiller, Winona Ryder, and Ethan Hawke, with major supporting roles played by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film was shot on location in Austin (where Childress' high school is located), and Houston, Texas in 42 days. The plot is centered on Lelaina (Ryder), an aspiring videographer working on a documentary called Reality Bites about the disenfranchised lives of her friends and roommates (Hawke, Garofalo, and Zahn), and to a certain degree, about Lelaina herself. Their challenges, both documented and not, exemplify some of the career and lifestyle choices faced by Generation X.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film follows a group of recent college graduates living and loving in Houston,TX. Long-time friend, temporary roommate and angry starving artist Troy (Hawke) and his love interest, Lelaina (Ryder) are attracted to each other, though it's an attraction that either of them has really acted upon as the film begins, 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. Troy's father, who is never seen on-screen, is dying of prostate cancer; this prompts Troy to remain close with his father when he can.

Lelaina meets Michael (Ben Stiller) in what filmmakers call a meet cute scene: in an act of derision, 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 as an executive, and after learning about her documentary, he wants to get it aired on his network. The film follows Lelaina as she struggles with her career and is forced to figure out whether it is Michael or Troy she wants.

Lelaina's roommate Vickie (Janeane Garofalo) has a series of one-night stands and short relationships with dozens of guys, 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. Vickie works as a sales associate for The Gap, a job she was initially reluctant to take. She was promoted to assistant manager and found that she had a talent for management.

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 Republican parents.

[edit] Production

Based on a screenplay she wrote in 1990 called Blue By You, Helen Childress was hired by producer Michael Shamberg to write a film about people in their twenties.[1] For three years she wrote and rewrote Reality Bites, generating 70 different drafts.[1] Childress decided to use her friends, their personalities and experiences as the basis for her film, even secretly tape-recording conversations.[1] Ben Stiller signed on to direct in 1992 and worked for many months with Childress to develop the screenplay.[2] As a result, the Michael Grates character changed from a 35-year-old advertising man trying to market Japanese candy bars in America to a slick TV executive in his twenties.[2] The script was initially turned down by all the Hollywood studios because it tried to capture the Generation X market like Singles and that film was not a box office success.[2]

After completing several period pieces, Winona Ryder was drawn to Reality Bites because she was looking "for something a little more contemporary because I really wanted to wear blue jeans for a change."[3] She read the script in one sitting and "found it very true to life."[3] She further speculated in an interview, "I think my character is very close to what I would probably have ended up as if I hadn't become an actress."[3]

Reality Bites went through four test screenings with a fairly decent reaction.[2]

[edit] Soundtrack

RCA met with the film's music supervisor Karyn Rachtman and Stiller three weeks into filming to discuss the soundtrack album.[4] They finalized a deal and the label opened its roster to the director who picked only one band: Me Phi Me. RCA aggressively marketed the album and had five tracks on rotation on radio and MTV.[4] The video for Crowded House's "Locked Out" was updated to include footage from the film. In addition, the video for "Spin the Bottle" by the Juliana Hatfield Three was directed by Stiller and featured clips from the film as well.[4] The soundtrack sold 1.2 million units and reached #13 on the Billboard 200.[5] The album also earned a no. 1 single with Lisa Loeb's "Stay (I Missed You)".

The film's soundtrack includes songs by World Party, Squeeze, The Knack ("My Sharona" featured prominently in one scene from the film), Juliana Hatfield, Social Distortion, and two contributions from Crowded House ("Locked Out" & "Something So Strong") in addition to the runaway hit "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb, which earned Loeb the distinction of being the only artist to top the Hot 100 before being signed to any record label. It also includes "Conjunction Junction" from Schoolhouse Rock!, another song brought into the foreground of a film full of pop culture references.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "My Sharona" - The Knack
  2. "Spin The Bottle" - Juliana Hatfield Three
  3. "Bed Of Roses" - The Indians
  4. "When You Come Back To Me" - World Party
  5. "Going, Going, Gone" - The Posies
  6. "Stay (I Missed You)" - Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
  7. "All I Want Is You" - U2
  8. "Locked Out" - Crowded House
  9. "Spinning Around Over" - Lenny Kravitz
  10. "I'm Nuthin'" - Ethan Hawke
  11. "Turnip Farm" - Dinosaur Jr.
  12. "Revival" - Me Phi Me
  13. "Tempted" - Squeeze
  14. "Baby, I Love Your Way" - Big Mountain
  15. "Stay (I Missed You) (Living Room mix)" - Lisa Loeb
  16. "Add It Up" - Ethan Hawke (Violent Femmes cover)
  17. "Confusion" - New Order
  18. "Disco Inferno - The Trammps
  19. "Give a Man a Fish" - Arrested Development
  20. "Fools Like Me" - Lisa Loeb

Tracks 1-14 appear on the original soundtrack. Tracks 15-20 appear on the 10th Anniversary Edition of the soundtrack.

[edit] Reception

Reality Bites premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1994.[6] It did not perform as well at the box office as the studio had hoped. In six weeks it grossed $18.3 million which was more than the film's $11 million budget.[7] Bruce Feldman, Universal Pictures' Vice-President of Marketing said, "The media labeled it as a Generation X picture, while we thought it was a comedy with broad appeal."[7] The studio placed TV ads during programs chosen for their appeal to 12-34-year-olds and in interviews Stiller was careful not to mention the phrase, "Generation X."[7]

The film received largely mixed reviews and currently has a rating of 64% on Rotten Tomatoes (50% for their "Cream of the Crop" designation). Caryn James in her review for the New York Times wrote, "Like the generation it presents so appealingly, it doesn't see any point in getting all bent out of shape and overambitious. But it knows how to hang out and have a great time."[8] In his review for the Washington Post, Desson Howe wrote, "By aiming specifically - and accurately - at characters in their twenties, debuting screenwriter Helen Childress and first-time director Stiller achieve something even greater: they encapsulate an era."[9]

[edit] Lawsuit

In 2005, the real Troy Dyer (a financial planner from Wisconsin[10]) sued writer Helen Childress, producer Danny DeVito and director Ben Stiller.[11] Dyer claimed that after the 2004 release of the tenth anniversary DVD of the film he had "inquiries from potential clients as to whether he was the fictional Troy Dyer".[11] Universal, Childress, DeVito and Stiller attempted to seek shelter under California's anti-SLAPP statutes but in early 2007 the appeals court denied them SLAPP protection with the following decision: "In sum, assuming the issues facing Generation X at the start of the 1990’s are of significant interest to the public, Dyer, a financial consultant living in Wisconsin who happened to have gone to school with Childress, was not connected to these issues in any way. Thus, the defendants failed to meet their initial burden of showing the activity underlying Dyer’s lawsuit was in furtherance of the defendants’ constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public issue or an issue of public interest".[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Paatsch, Leigh. "Reality Takes a Bite Out of Writer's Life", The Age, June 24, 1994. 
  2. ^ a b c d Kolson, Ann. "In the Family Tradition", Philadelphia Inquirer, February 20, 1994. 
  3. ^ a b c Portman, Jamie. "The Age of Cynicism", Ottawa Citizen, February 18, 1994. 
  4. ^ a b c Boehlert, Eric. "RCA Faces Reality as it Re-Enters Soundtrack Fray", Billboard, February 5, 1994. 
  5. ^ Miller, Trudi. "Reality Bites Fuels Spate of Soundtracks for RCA", Billboard, September 3, 1994. 
  6. ^ Byrge, Duane. "Reality Bites", Hollywood Reporter, January 31, 1994. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  7. ^ a b c Rickey, Carrie. "Generation X Turns Its Back", Philadelphia Inquirer, April 3, 1994. 
  8. ^ James, Caryn. "Coming of Age in Snippets", New York Times, February 18, 1994. 
  9. ^ Howe, Desson. "Reality Bites: Age of Innocents", Washington Post, February 18, 1994. Retrieved on 2007-10-22. 
  10. ^ "Troy Dyer v. Helen Childress et al." (PDF), Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  11. ^ a b c Simmons, Leslie. "Appeals Court Denies Reality Bites SLAPP Protection", Hollywood Reporter, February 27, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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