Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

February is, as most readers know, Black History month, but it might as well be Teen Movie month as well. Studios figure that there aren't enough moviegoers in this coldest of seasons to justify releasing a blockbuster and that adults are still catching up on Oscar-nominated fare. So the only audience for new movies are teenagers desperate for something to do.

Desperation is a good word to describe most teen movies. The writing and jokes usually have an air of desperation, the young actors are desperate for a big break, and the older actors are desperate for a paycheck. So it is with the contemptible new "comedy" Slackers, a movie that is at least consistent in its theme: desperation.

You see, Dave, Sam, and Jeff are seniors trying to graduate from college while doing the least amount of academic work possible. Therefore, they spend an enormous amount of work devising and executing schemes to cheat their way through classes. Unfortunately for them, Ethan (Jason Schwartzman) discovers their duplicity one day and blackmails them. He wants Dave, who's a natural with the ladies, to somehow convince Angela (James King, a well-known fashion model despite her first name) to go out with Ethan. You see, Ethan is desperately infatuated with Angela, so much so that he's collected her hair off of various chairs and constructed a hair doll with which he sleeps. Yes, he's as creepy and dysfunctional as he sounds. How creepy is he? He's stolen a pair of Angela's panties which he wears on his head while watching videotapes of her he's surreptitiously made.

No matter how awful Dave (Devon Sawa, Final Destination) is (and his amorality is striking), there's no way he can be as disgusting as Ethan. So when Dave starts to fall for Angela, we're forced to root that he'll be the one to get the girl. Though we know Dave's the kind of guy who will leave Angela after engaging in a series of affairs, at least he's not Ethan. That's the sort of desperate choice we in the audience have.

But at least we're not '50s pinup Mamie Van Doren, who somehow made the desperate choice to go nude in Slackers. Yes, the sixty-something Van Doren actually removes her top and begs for a "sponge bath" from Ethan. How desperate has Jason Schwartzman become? Just a few years after the sensational Rushmore, here he's reduced to fondling Van Doren's breasts and being hit with a frisbee. How desperate are the film's jokes (courtesy of writer David Steinberg and director Dewey Nicks)? Well, the best one is the line "The dirty old whore made me do it." And how desperate is Slackers? So desperate that they take The Who's "Baba O'Reilly," one of the great teen anthems, and turn it into muzak.

In contrast, A Walk to Remember, starring Shane West and pop star Mandy Moore, is a breath of fresh air. It's a simple tale of two high-school seniors, Landon (West, television's "Once and Again") and Jamie (Moore), who fall in love. Landon is an aimless kid who spends most of his time drinking and hanging out with the "cool kids." Jamie is the exact opposite--she's focused and smart, and spends her free time tutoring the less fortunate, working at a soup kitchen, and singing solos in the church choir.

It's in church one Sunday morning (where Jamie's dad is the pastor) that Jamie notices Landon. He's got the sullen look of a bad boy; and if there's one thing a good girl can't resist, it's a bad boy. In that respect, A Walk to Remember has something in common with Slackers (Angela is a good girl, too), and they also embrace the hoary cliche that the love of a good woman can change any man. But with Walk, the transformation in Landon feels more natural, more realistic.

After a dangerous prank goes wrong, Landon's punishment is to participate in the school play. Not wanting to embarrass himself, he starts to practice with Jamie, and her Christian convictions, self-assurance, and kindness seem a lot more attractive up close than they did from afar. Soon, he's spending more time with Jamie and less with his friends.

This might be a simple switch, but the film's exploration of Christian belief is nicely nuanced. Jamie's faith forms the bedrock of her actions, actions that are admirable though her attitude is sometimes a little smug. When her dad disapproves of her dating choice, their confrontation, mild as it is, still feels right. One critic complained that Moore's character is "noxiously wholesome" and has a face "frozen by the creepy serenity of the saved," but that's a stridently unfair characterization. True, Jamie exhibits none of the doubt cinematic protagonists are supposed to hold, but most teenagers see the world in black and white and don't embrace faith's difficulties until later in life. I suspect that Scott Tobias (the writer of the above comments and a personal friend of mine) is just bothered that the film posits such a pro-faith viewpoint, but I found it refreshing in contrast to Hollywood's usual perspective.

Not that A Walk to Remember is Oscar-worthy entertainment. The romance between Landon and Jamie is boiler-plate puppy-dog. The minor characters are poorly written, and a subplot involving Landon's dad is just stupid. Furthermore, the movie tries to pack too much into the film's final half-hour, forcing it to string a series of montages together.

On the plus side, the two leads offer fine performances. Shane West looks a little bit old to be playing a high school senior, but his world-weary manner suits his character and his growing love for Jamie feels just right. More surprising is Mandy Moore's solid portrayal. She combines sweetness with conviction, and after a while you forget you're watching a singer. I'm not sure how long Mandy's singing career will last, but her acting career looks promising. Winter teen movies don't usually offer much, but A Walk to Remember is a decent example of the genre, particularly for teenagers with money and time to burn.   

A Walk to Remember  
Slackers