Customer Reviews

Kicking and Screaming (EP Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

And thank God. I can't add much more to what others have already said. It's a great film. Warm, funny, touching. Great performances, great writing. I particularly like the scene with Chris Eigeman in the bar, saying, "Look at these [bleeping] people." And the ending is a masterstroke. Heartbreaking, but perhaps that's the point: youth will go and in the end the best you may have is a wonderful, nostalgic memory.

They tried to make a film addressing post-graduate angst when I was in college. It was called "St. Elmo's Fire" and it was truly one of the worst things ever put on screen. Max, look at Demi Moore, Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez and ponder how such dark forces could gather together and create such a pretentious, self indulgent mess of a movie and get people to see it. There were actually a couple of people I went to school with that took that movie quite seriously; formed dialogues over it, etc. The way to handle them was to nod as if you took them seriously and get them to continue to embarrass themselves.

The point is, while the theme or idea may not be anything new, what matters is the writing, the performances and the presentation. "Kicking and Screaming" is honest and human while "St. Elmo's" was (at that time) star-studded, cynical and pandering and ultimately very stupid.

I recommend people buy a copy of "Kicking and Screaming". Because it is one of the great films of the 90's that hardly anyone saw and it will probably be difficult to find it stocked in video stores after 2004.

Few movies do I enjoy more than Kicking and Screaming. I own a copy and watch it every six months or so. It always makes me laugh but it also succeeds in making the viewer experience sincere empathy and sympathy for its characters. Anyone who went to college in the nineties can relate to these individuals at some level. Furthermore, just in case you're wondering, its not a Whit Stillman film but many of the same actors are used such as Chris Eigeman. Here we have a group of friends who have to be dragged kicking and screaming into adulthood. All of them appear to be deflated by their graduations from college. "What do we do now?" is their central question. By the end, nearly everybody discovers some kind of direction in which to take their lives.

PLEASE, please, put this movie out on dvd! it's been said so many times before, but i can not stress how worthy and worthwhile this movie is, and how totally deserving it is of a dvd release. i hope somebody with some authority reads these reviews and realizes that they are idiots for not having this excellent movie out on dvd already.

OK, don't be fooled, everything in this movie has been done before-the witty remarks, the artful flashbacks, the after college crisis, the inclusion of Stolz and Posey-but what sets this film apart is the *dialogue.* Pure heaven, this is my favorite film of all time and it has inspired me to start writing again. I think older people will love the genuine sincerness of Grover and Jane (or just the inclusion of Eliot Gould), younger audiences will love the sharp critiques Max gives Oscar (or just the countless breastshots) but above all this movie is like peeking in on "smart" scholars who are just as confused as the rest of us.

A few friends and I rented this on a whim back in 1996...we have since quoted it to each other on a regular basis. In fact, I just got back in touch with a few of them and they recognized my myspace quote from the movie. An old roomate ended up with one of the tapes of it I owned, while an ex-boyfriend ended up with another. I have the fondest of memories of this film and plan to buy it the day it comes out on DVD.
This is a classic film from the Seinfeld generation that makes an art form of non-sequitors and slacker backlash. Everyone knows someone like the characters in this movie. Everyone has experienced the plunge into the "real world" that we may or may not be ready for. This is some of the smartest writing I have seen in any movie.

I saw this movie for the first time just over ten years ago the weekend before I graduated from college. I was suprised how much I connected to it. It was extremely funny and has some of the best lines of any movie I can remember, but it also just seemed to have a certain something to it that really nailed how I was feeling at the time. After rewatching it again recently, it has a certain timelessness to it. It doesn't feel dated at all. The special features are great as well.

This movie is an absolute classic for one-liners and odd dialogue. The themes are typical: pre-adulthood angst and the directionless "X" Generation, but the delivery is brilliant and real. It feels like you're watching a series of intimate conversations secretly taped of your friends. Or like you're let in on some private joke and that makes each viewing a little funnier.
You'll find yourself incorporating the quotes into your own life, and needing to share the film with select others so that they're in on the joke too.
Ding! Go Cougars!

Okay, pardon the title of the review, but the fact is, it holds true. It doesn't matter if you're 15, or 25, or 35 with fond college memories. If you're the sort of person who sat through college and wondered, "What the hell?" then this is for you. And if you sat through high school and wondered that, then here's a good idea of what's to come, my friend. Noah Baumbach (referred to as NB in most reviews) is simply brilliant, and honest. Kicking and Screaming epitomizes what it is to be in a void of life. JUST DON'T BUY THE EP VERSION!!! This is already a low-budget film, if you view the EP tape you'll approach it as an indy film, and though it is, it needs to be approached as a simply brilliant film concerning what it is to be lost in life. And I guarantee, even if you think this film isn't funny in a slap-stick, "Ace Ventura" way, you'll still love the "cookie man" scene. NB manages to approach life after college in a way that all adolescent-and-older people can appreciate, be it Grover's(Josh Hamilton) tenuous, Knicks-fueled relationship with his father(Elliot Gould), or the simple long distance relationship aspects of his relationship with his girlfriend headed to Prague, the fact is, anyone who has felt any emotional or social distress in life will love this movie. Trust me on this, folks, do not miss out on this film, it is without a doubt one of the single most personal movies of the modern generation.

I am SO glad that K&S is finally available on DVD because I have practically worn out my VHS tape. I have seen this movie dozens of times and it improves with each viewing, even though it's been ten years since I first saw it. The movie is funny, moving, and memorable, the story of four mostly-aimless guys as they figure out what to do after they graduate from college. No one knows, of course, what happens to the characters after the film ends, but I would kill for a sequel along the lines of "Before Sunset."

(Please be clear: I am NOT, NOT, NOT talking about the Will Ferrell movie).

I am writing about Noah Baumbach's excellent 1995 film starring Eric Stoltz, Chris Eigeman, Parker Posey, Olivia D'Abo, Josh Hamilton, Elliot Gould, etc. And, in particular, I write both to concur with the many other reviewers who enjoyed this film, and to join in their request to PLEASE RELEASE THIS FILM ON DVD ALREADY!!!!!