Opening

78% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
—— The Hangover Part III May 23
—— Epic May 24
95% Before Midnight May 24
83% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
—— Fill the Void May 24
—— A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24
More...

Top Box Office

86% Star Trek Into Darkness $70.2M
78% Iron Man 3 $35.8M
49% The Great Gatsby $23.9M
46% Pain & Gain $3.2M
69% The Croods $3.0M
77% 42 $2.8M
56% Oblivion $2.3M
98% Mud $2.2M
37% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M
More...

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
88% The East May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
More...
Slacker Play Trailer

Slacker (1991)

tomatometer

100

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

No consensus yet.

audience

76

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 9,000

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,

Drama, Classics, Comedy

Richard Linklater

Sep 14, 2004

The Criterion Collection

Watch It Now

  • $5.99 to buy , $2.99 to rent
  • Stream Now + Instant Queue , + DVD Queue

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

Slacker Trailer & Photos

Critic Reviews for Slacker

All Critics (36) | Top Critics (10) | 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
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
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 (5)
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[VIDEO ESSAY] "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
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The indie film has a fresh feel.

March 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
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 | Comments (2)
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

An exercise in meandering self-importance.

May 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness
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
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

A landmark by an American master

December 15, 2004
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)
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
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
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
View all critic reviews (36)

Audience Reviews for Slacker

View All
The camera tracks the aimless slackers of Austin, TX, following one for a few minutes and then veering off to chase another as they drink coffee and spout a 50/50 mix of philosophy and conspiracy theories. An experimental portrait of the subculture of bright but unambitious dropouts and unemployed postgrads that exists in every college town.
January 10, 2008
366weirdmovies
Greg S

Super Reviewer

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

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 (22 months ago)

Discussion Forum

View All

There are no discussion threads for Slacker yet.

Latest News on 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...

View all news

What's Hot On RT

RT on DVD & Blu-Ray
RT on DVD & Blu-Ray

The Last Stand, Side Effects

As I Lay Dying
As I Lay Dying

Trailer for James Franco adaptation

About Time Trailer
About Time Trailer

Rachel McAdams' time travel romantic drama

Summer Movie Scorecard
Summer Movie Scorecard

Blockbusters ranked!

Movie News

View All

Featured on RT

Comments

Top Headlines

Fresh Links

<em>Star Trek</em> Movies Ranked
Star Trek Movies Ranked External Link
 HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 <em>Star Trek</em> Villains
Top 10 Star Trek Villains External Link
 Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback External Link
 We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
50 Most Classic Movie Moms External Link
 In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
Weirdest Movie Siblings External Link
 From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Follow RT on Twitter!
Follow RT on Twitter! External Link
 Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile
Copyright © Flixster, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Ad Choices