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Slacker

Slacker

Comedy · 1990

Austin, Texas, is an Eden for the young and unambitious, from the enthusiastically eccentric to the dangerously apathetic. Here, the nobly lazy can eschew responsibility in favor of nursing their esoteric obsessions. The locals include a backseat philosopher who passionately expounds on his dream theories to a seemingly comatose cabbie, a young woman who tries to hawk Madonna's Pap test to anyone who will listen and a kindly old anarchist looking for recruits.

Movie details

Slacker

1990 Comedy 1h 37m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.7 / 10

Community rating

Austin, Texas, is an Eden for the young and unambitious, from the enthusiastically eccentric to the dangerously apathetic. Here, the nobly lazy can eschew responsibility in favor of nursing their esoteric obsessions. The locals include a backseat philosopher who passionately expounds on his dream theories to a seemingly comatose cabbie, a young woman who tries to hawk Madonna's Pap test to anyone who will listen and a kindly old anarchist looking for recruits.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Slacker?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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PCU

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Richard Linklater

Written by

Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater

Should Have Stayed at Bus Station

R

Rudy Basquez

Taxi Driver

J

Jean Caffeine

Roadkill

J

Jan Hockey

Jogger

S

Stephan Hockey

Running Late

Mark James

Mark James

Hit-and-Run Son

S

Samuel Dietert

Grocery Grabber of Death's Bounty

Court is in session

Put Slacker on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.