Review of Art School Confidential (2006) by Caleb M — 30 Jun 2011

A hilarious slice of college life with an unnecessary but occasionally intriguing subplot about a murderer thrown in. Zwigoff knows how to turn human misery into comedy, and at times I found Art School Confidential to be like an R-rated version of Charles Shultz's PEANUTS set in a college. There are interesting questions that get posed here in a fun intelligently sarcastic way: can you learn to become a great artist, or are great artists born that way? Does popularity make you a true artist? SHould we judge an artist's work based on their personal life? Etc.

Art School Confidential is smart, quick, dark and hilarious. I don't know why this hasn't become a bigger success. Maybe the dark sarcasm hasn't hit most viewers like it hit me, or maybe the stranger subplot got too much in the way for most. I found it engrossing, funny and smart. Even that loose subplot led to an ending that felt funny, sardonic, and even a little sweet.