Oh, great. This is just what we need; another self-serving film from a twenty-something white male showing us how other twenty-something white males see today’s world. And not just any twenty-something white males, I might add, but drunken, stoned, confused and mostly dissatisfied twenty-something white males.
Then again, aren’t they all?
Director Sean Baker’s stunningly trite and unimaginative glass of keg foam masquerading as something important follows an irritating group of young adults not yet far enough into their college careers to have yet put high school completely behind them. It’s a weekend night and this group has gathered for that old standby of activities, the keg party. The usual TV sitcom stock of hunks and misfits is present: The lady’s man, the Dr. Who fan, the chunky outcast, the quiet virgin, and so forth spend the entire movie at this party talking about life, debating the finer points of the female persuasion and mostly just bickering with one another over stupid stuff.
I tell ya. I’m getting bored all over again just writing about this film. That’s because nothing happens. Nobody evolves. Zero gets resolved. Hell, they’re not even spouting original dialogue. Instead, they’re merely reenacting conversations that Baker surreptitiously recorded from real life over the years. That old saying, “Just because it really happened doesn’t make it interesting” comes to mind.
At least the performances from this quality ensemble cast of unknown actors are engaging, which helps make the film a little less insufferable. Then, too, there are a handful of isolated moments here that are genuinely funny. It’s just that there aren’t nearly enough of them to justify having to sit through the rest of this tiresome film. I’d venture to guess that even most twenty-something white males would agree.
