Art School Confidential (2006)
36 %
Reviews Counted: 129 Fresh: 47 Rotten:82 Average Rating: 5.4/10
Consensus:
Art School's misanthropy is too sour, its targets too flat and cliched, and Clowes and Zwigoff stumble when trying to build a story around the premise.
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Theatrical Release: May 5, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $3,174,973
Synopsis: "Art School Confidential" follows a talented young artist Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) as he escapes from high school to a tiny East Coast art school. Here the boyish freshman's ambition is to become the world's greatest artist, like his hero Picasso. Unfortunately, the beauty and... [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Max Minghella, John Malkovich, Ezra Buzzington, Sophia Myles, Matt Keeslar
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Reviews
Unfortunately, the tender observations Zwigoff and Clowes specialize in are largely missing from Art School Confidential, which spends its energy on the zany people who'd usually pepper the edges of their films.
Comment
06/08/08
A stilted satire of teenage passion and apathy, sex and death and crime...so concerned with aping style that it never bothers to consider its characters as people.
02/01/08
Simultaneously champions creative desire while calling out the artistic realm's share of pretentious blowhards.
07/03/07
An ingenious satire of the pretentious mindset of the elitist art world from the perspective of a rapidly-disillusioned kid who had no idea what he was getting into.
05/20/07
Suffers from snail-like pacing, an underwhelming central character and the "shooting fish in a barrel" syndrome: The film's targets are all too obvious.
03/01/07
Maybe this material isn't entirely fresh, but Zwigoff delivers it with the snap of a quick punch to the face -- which is, in fact, the first image in the film, and a model for innumerable excellent sight gags to follow.
11/11/06
...generally comes off as nothing less than a substantial disappointment.
10/13/06
The few characters we might have cared for become increasingly shallow, and it all lapses into clichés about the relationship between art and infamy, between personal integrity and selling your soul, and so on.
09/01/06
Curiously, this relentlessly cynical tone turns out sounding refreshingly original compared to the usual pieties in the genre.
07/12/06
Top Critic
The true merit of the movie is the momentary pleasures of the dialogue and the performances, but the story itself leaves you wanting. So, is it art? Looks like it.
06/16/06
Art School Confidential s'avère une autre belle réussite pour les deux artistes [Zwigoff et Clowes] qui, espérons-le, collaboreront à nouveau dans un avenir rapproché.
06/05/06
Rather than observing the intimate details that make an Art School project special, the filmmakers opt to focus on Art School partying (i.e., drinking and vomiting) instead.
06/03/06
Unfortunately, Clowes' script is lame and littered with stereotypes, and the performances of Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent and Anjelica Huston can't save it.
06/03/06
It’s fine that this film feels uncomfortable indulging the shopworn tropes of coming-of-age story or black comedy or romance or mystery thriller, but, well, ambivalence is self-propagating.
06/03/06
Director Terry Zwigoff and comic book artist-turned-screenwriter Daniel Clowes follow up their Ghost World success with a less satisfying collaboration.
06/03/06
This has the feel of a beginner's film and has some fun moments and a good performance by John Malkovich, but overall does not have enough to keep it going.
06/02/06
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Around the Network
• Art School Confidential at Rotten Tomatoes
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• Art School Confidential at AskMen
• Art School Confidential at IGN
• Art School Confidential at AskMen
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