Review of Slacker (1990) by Brian F — 11 Jan 2010

I've been a fan of most of Linklater's stuff, particularly Before Sunrise/Sunset, and you can see the similarities here. This is definitely not the film of a mature filmmaker, but it showed his passion for dialogue which is evident in his later, better films.

Worth seeing if you're a big Linklater fan or enjoy film school type movies, but otherwise it's not much more than a somewhat plodding character study of a wide variety of people, some fairly normal, some completely bonkers.

It drags a bit at times and not all the characters are nearly as entertaining as others, but it mostly held my interest. I enjoyed the extended takes, the exaggerated Austin weirdness, and particularly the 1990 Ron Paul for President (as a Libertarian) campaign sign at the 1hr mark.