Cory I'll start by saying I wasn't offended because of any raunchy or debauched stuff. I am not sensitive at all when it comes to sex humor or any sort of sophomoric low-brow stuff. If it's funny, I like it.That's the problem though: this piece of crap movie simply was NOT FUNNY!!! It's just a stupid, worthless collection of "this is how crazy college guys live" stereotypes, with a truly cringe-worthy love story slapped on top. I don't think there was a single line that I found interesting or unique in any way.Again, I am the last guy to be offended by anything "explicit". But I am offended when formulaic BS crap is passed off as comedy.

Randy Singer I love this movie instantly. I recommend it to everyone I know who likes wacky college comedies. I consider it a true classic.I wonder why the critics panned it universally. I got into an email exchange with the reviewer from Atlanta and she apologized. It came out at the same time as Orange County which had Jack Black in a minor role. This was the stronger film but not enough people went to find that out.Jason Schwartzman is the perfect villain. We get a young Jason Segel, Jaime King, Laura Prepon and the Ameritrade guy (Michael C. Maronna). It also contains some of the best cameos this side of "Play it to the Bone."Please go and rent or buy it.

mustican The Slackers as titled in this movie are three college friends Dave, Jeff and Sam(Devon Sawa, Michael Maronna and Jason Segel respectively), who are about to graduate from university without sitting through an honest exam but making it end successfully. This continues until the very end when unlikeable but the most likable character of the movie Nathan(Schwartzman) figures out what they are up to. Nathan starts blackmailing in order to make up with his dream girl as he cant pursue that in normal conditions. The only problem is when the trio starts to work on it, Dave falls in love with the gorgeous and good hearted Angela(James King) Unfortunately, not a brilliant genre movie. Schwartzman makes to watch the movie easy as his performance is brilliant. King's performance is average, I think she was hired just to be around with her gorgeous look. The Slackers is reminiscent of American Pie with a different direction. Jokes are as shallow as in American Pie. But aren't they all used? I think this movie is a warning to the filmmakers of the genre that they are running out of originality. Overall, a few smiley moments but a horrible movie in terms of acting(except for Schwartzman) and subject. * out of *****

Phantasm01 The story is almost painfully familiar. Jason Schwartzman is a disturbed college student with a massive crush on the sweetly attractive James King. In order to trick her into not only noticing him but eventually going out with him, Schwartzman blackmails three cocky cheaters into helping him con her into giving him her affections. Unfortunately, the head cheater is played by Devon Sawa who, while not being half the actor that Schwartzman is, is much better looking and as such, King immediately falls for him and he falls for her and the rest of the movie deals with how to deal with Schwartzman. As said, none of the movie's particular plot points are extremely clever and a lot of the humor falls flat. Particularly annoying is the director's need to pad out the film with the same boring fantasy sequences that seem to pop up in all stoner youth comedies nowadays. Scored to kitschy pop standards from the early '70s (the type of stuff these slackers wouldn't be caught dead listening to in real life), these fantasy sequences are filled with unoriginal takeoffs on better films and tend to stop the action dead -- not good for a film that feels overlong to begin with.Still, for every dead spot, there's a bizarrely inspired joke or a skillful performance that'll pop up unexpectedly and these good moments are so inspired and provide such a strong pay-off that the viewer is almost left feeling as if he's being rewarded for managing to make it through the bad moments. It's as if the director is saying, "Sorry about making that 20th joke about flatulence, here's a little Jason Schwartzman to help ease the pain." Certainly, Schwartzman is the film's main strength. Playing yet another eccentric, overly intelligent stalker-type, Schwartzman creates a character that is 180 degrees the opposite of his starring turn in Rushmore. He brings a manic intensity to his creepy role that is fascinating to watch -- both because of the skill of his performance and because of the fact that this is a rare actor who is willing to push against all self-imposed limits while on screen. The audience finds themselves tolerating a lot of uninspired bits just for the chance to find out what Schwartzman's going to do next. Schwartzman pulls off a minor miracle, giving a perfect comedic performance as a character who, when you actually get to the heart of the matter, isn't all that funny. However, Schwartzman is not the sole redemption to be found in this film's cast as James King, while stuck playing a symbol (the "good girl"), still manages to be very sweet and adorable (in the best sense of the term) as the unwitting object of Schwartzman's affections. For this film to work, you have to be willing to buy that so many people would be willing to make idiots out of themselves to win the heart of one, individual woman and luckily, King manages to embody that woman, much in the same way that Cameron Diaz helped to lend some credibility to the far superior There's Something About Mary. As for the star of the film, Devon Sawa doesn't get to display the flair of wild comedy that distinguished his work in Idle Hands (truly the only role to give him a chance to definitely distinguish himself from the current crop of 20-something pretty boys wondering around Hollywood) but he's still a likable enough protagonist. If he doesn't get a chance to be as interesting as Schwartzman, he also doesn't allow this film to turn into Freddie Prinze, Jr. vehicule either. And while most of the direction is rather uninspired, there are still a few moments of inspired lunacy that'll either annoy you or leave you in hysterics depending on your taste in humor. (A bit with a singing gym sock is probably the best example of this.) These bits of inspired lunacy are too few and too far between to make up for the fact that this is -- overall -- a rather uneven mess of a film but, for what their worth, they're there and they certainly make the film a bit more interesting than most of the shlock being churned out nowadays.Slackers isn't a great film. It's probably not even a good film. But it is a film with some great strengths to go along with its far too numerous flaws. If you're in the mood for this type of film, there are definitely worse ways to lose 90 minutes of your life.