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Jayce Bartok, Amie Carey, Nicky Katt, Ajay Naidu, Parker Posey ... see more see more... , Giovanni Ribisi , Samia Shoaib , Steve Zahn , Dina Spybey , Dina Waters

Director Richard Linklater and writer/actor Eric Bogosian collaborated on this adaptation of Bogosian's play about a handful of people edging into their 20's who seem like the poor relations of the ge... read more read more...nial eccentrics in Linklater's Slacker. While the Texas bohemians in Slacker has their myriad obsessions to keep them occupied (even if they didn't do much about them), SubUrbia's protagonists have few if any clear goals and hang out not as a means of killing time, but as a way of life. Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi) talks about going back to college some day while he lives in a tent in his parents' garage. His girlfriend Sooze (Amie Carey) imagines herself a performance artist; most of her "work" is displayed in he parking lot of a convenience store, though she often talks about moving to New York. Tim (Nicky Katt) was bounced from the Air Force and spends his evenings soaking up alcohol and bitterness. Buff (Steve Zahn) is obsessed with pizza and is content with his reputation as the wacky guy who will do anything. And Bee-Bee (Dina Spybey) is Sooze's best friend, just out of rehab, with her willpower hanging by a thread. It's a big night in front of the convenience store; Pony (Jayce Bartok), who used to play guitar at school dances, has become a rock star, and promises to stop by after his show at the local hockey arena (none of his friends have the money to see him play). Meanwhile, the American work ethic is represented by Nazeer (Ajay Naidu), an immigrant from Pakistan who runs the store where the kids hang out; he's sick to death of them, and lives for the day when he gets his engineering degree and never has to see their faces again. Bogosian has said this play (and in particular the character of Jeff) was freely drawn from his own post-teenage years. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

65% liked it

5,218 ratings

Critics

64% liked it

22 critics

R, 2 hr. 1 min.

Directed by: Richard Linklater

Release Date: February 7, 1997

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Flixster Reviews (287)

  • blkbomb
    December 23, 2011
    blkbomb
    Jeff: It doesn't matter what I do as long as I don't care about the results. And that's why now, I'm getting naked. 

    I really didn't think I was going to like this movie after the first twenty minutes. All that was going on was the characters saying "Fuck you" a lot and flipping... read more everybody off, while they walked away backwards. But from the movie turned into a good little hang out/what are we going to do with are lives, "Oh nothing, that sound good" film. It's sporadically funny and takes some turns towards the dark and tragic. 

    I do like the honesty of the film. The characters sit around and the ones that have given up drink heavily and the ones that have aspirations of bettering their lives talk about stuff they truly don't understand. When it comes to these hang out movies, this isn't one of the better ones. Linklater did it better with Dazed and Confused and there are others like Barry Levinson's Diner which far exceed SubUrbia. That isn't to say that this is a bad movie, because it happens to be an intelligently written(Eric Bogosian) and directed film. 

    The movie runs a little long for the content and it doesn't seem like they really knew how to end it. I wasn't expecting so much to occur during the last act because nothing occurred during the first two. This is a plotless movie, that threw a lot of heavy issues into the mix, especially down the home stretch. It sort of started to feel like a mess and it started to feel  a little longwinded, but overall it made its points while being funny and entertaining. 

    Suburbia is worth a look, especially if you like movies that occur in a day or a night. Don't watch it if you don't like movies that really don't have an active plot. All this really is, is conversations between characters. Think Mallrats, but a lot heavier.
  • mjgildea
    April 27, 2007
    mjgildea
    I saw this years ago when I was a completely different person, so I freely admit I'd need to see it again before giving it a proper review. What 1997 Me though was that it was pretentious, really didn't go anywhere and that its soundtrack was so much better than the movie itself.... read more It was like the asshole little brother of Singles or something. Oh, and for as smoking as Parker Posey was at the time, it didn't justify having to see Giovanni Ribisi's dick. I don't care how good an actor the guy's become.
  • Dracula787
    June 22, 2008
    Dracula787
    This is the only Richard Linklater film that I had yet to watch, because it still hasn't come out on DVD for some reason. I was able to catch it on IFC, and was mostly impressed. It seems like this was in some ways Linklater trying to do the opposite of what he had been doing, as... read more he usually goes all over a given city in one of his movies, here he mostly sticks to a single location for this play adaptation. Still he tackle most of the common themes of Linklater's early films like youth alienation and slacker mentality. Ultimately it's really just Linklater as usual, but that's not entirely bad.
  • ileo
    December 15, 2007
    ileo
    Crazy funny!
  • Chosen718
    December 11, 2007
    Chosen718
    Good film, great performances by all.
  • HeroPK
    March 16, 2011
    HeroPK
    I actually like it better than I did when it first came out. Its a slice of the 90's and I like the soundtrack.
  • Tygerwatchesmovies
    May 27, 2009
    Tygerwatchesmovies
    One of my favorite movies ever. I'm not exactly sure why, but it's the one movie I still own on VHS while I wait for the (Criterion!) DVD to be released.
  • SonnyLighstrome
    November 29, 2007
    SonnyLighstrome
    Another really good Richard Linklater film, once again about the angst of young people during a certain time period (this one, the 90s), but things aren't as fun as in DAZED AND CONFUSED.
  • supersonicx
    March 6, 2007
    supersonicx
    Richard Linklater's "SubUrbia" is a film about five teenagers who have nothing to do with their lives, who decide to hang out at "the corner" (outside of a convenience store) one night. On the same night, their friend, the only successful one out of the group who is now a rock st... read morear, has returned to his hometown to revisit his old surroundings. The friends decide to hang out and talk about inane subjects, while realizing that they've been wasting their lives away doing nothing, and that they actually want to make something of themselves.
  • jeffkimboston
    March 4, 2007
    jeffkimboston
    A fair attempt at a really good Bogosian play, but I didn't think it's caricaturistic take on the charcters was effective. Nicky Katt nailed the role of Tim though.

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Critic Reviews

Mike Clark
January 1, 2000
Mike Clark, USA Today

Linklater's finessing of acting ensembles is very proficient -- again.

Rob Nelson
September 1, 2009
Rob Nelson, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Linklater is collaborating with a certified grown-up who also happens to be the screenwriting equivalent of a shock-jock; laid-back bong-hits have been supplanted by endless black-comic cruelty and a ... Full Review

Emanuel Levy
February 9, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

This brooding comedy fails to blend the sensibilities of two artists, director Richard Linklater and writer Eric Bogosian, which couldn't have been more different--the only thing they share together i... Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
August 26, 2002
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

Hard-edged drama about some soulless twentysomethings. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
September 7, 2011
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Click to read the article Full Review

Godfrey Cheshire
December 10, 2008
Godfrey Cheshire, Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Jeff Strickler
November 6, 2002
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Click to read the article Full Review

April 12, 2002
Globe and Mail

Click to read the article Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 22, 2002
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

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SubUrbia Trivia

  • What rockstar's first movie was 'Suburbia' in 1984, he went on to star in Back to the Future Two, The Big Lebowski and Rugrats Go Wild?  Answer »
  • What movie had the tag line "In the heart of Suburbia, a hitman with a heart has just moved in"  Answer »
  • Which of the following actors was not in the film SubUrbia?  Answer »
  • What Movie Has This Outline: "In The Heart Of Suburbia, A Hit Man Wih Heart Has Just Moved In."  Answer »
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