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Slacker

Slacker (1991)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

audience

77

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 8,476

My Rating

Movie Info

One of the key American independent films of the 1990s, Richard Linklater's feature debut is an audacious look at the twentysomething culture in the college town of Austin, Texas. Set over the course of a 24-hour period, the film is a collection of short, unconnected glimpses into the dropout subculture, touching base with a variety of musicians, students, street people and general eccentrics. While there's no real plot to speak of, Linklater's eye for nuance and gift for dialogue are superb,

R, 1 hr. 45 min.

Drama, Classics, Comedy

Richard Linklater

Sep 14, 2004

The Criterion Collection

Slacker Trailer & Photos

More Trailers and Videos (1)

Cast

Critic Reviews for Slacker

All Critics (36) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (5) | DVD (15)

What Linklater has captured is a generation of bristling minds unable to turn their thoughts into action.

May 12, 2001 Comments (2)
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a work of scatterbrained originality, funny, unexpected and ceaselessly engaging.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Hal Hinson
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The experience is funny, surreal and weird. Sometimes it's even scary.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A movie with an appeal almost impossible to describe.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (2)
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[VIDEO] "Slacker" is a hallmark of American independent cinema because it is so thoroughly original in its concepts and execution.

March 26, 2012 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The indie film has a fresh feel.

March 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A charming ensemble piece, that may be the ultimate campus comedy, about media-fixated, affectless youngsters who became spokepersons for Generation X

June 27, 2005 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment (1)
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

An exercise in meandering self-importance.

May 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | Comment
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

A brilliant film that plays like a chain of linked short short stories.

April 7, 2005 Comment (1)
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

A landscape-changing film for what it represents, as well as for what it contains.

February 18, 2005 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

A landmark by an American master

December 15, 2004 Comment
Jay Antani
Los Angeles Alternative Source: Los Angeles Alternative

The least you can say for it is that it's unique. The best is that it's a landmark and a hilariously funny film.

December 6, 2004 Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS) | Comment
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS) Source: F5 (Wichita, KS)

Slacker is populated by new-age beatniks with neither fashion nor poetry, populating a culture that's distinguished by its lack of culture.

November 1, 2004 Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | Comment
Rumsey Taylor
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

one of those rare films that captured a particular bit its era's zeitgeist, thus guaranteeing it a form of immortality that transcends its artistic merit

October 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Slacker

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A series of vignettes on life as a twenty-something resident in and around the city of Austin, Texas. Known in some circles as a "cult classic", Slacker features atrocious acting, shaky camera work and Madonna's pap smear.

January 20, 2009
flixsterman
Randy Tippy

Super Reviewer

Anti-Artist: Uh, I don't do much really, I just read, and work here, and, uh, sleep and eat, and, uh, watch movies. This review is going to be pretty short, as there's nothing really worth talking about. Slacker is a plotless film that follows losers around. Most of the time, these losers think they are geniuses. They

January 2, 2012
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

Slacker Quotes

View All

    1. Working on Same Painting: Sorry I'm late.
    2. Sidewalk Psychic: It's all right, time doesn't exist.
    – Submitted by Scott R (10 months ago)

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Latest News for Slacker

May 3, 2011:
Slacker Turns 20; Unusual Remake in the Works
To help celebrate the 20th anniversary of Richard Linklater's "Slacker," 23 directors are...

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