Customer Reviews

S.F.W. [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

It's begining to show it's age, but this satrical drama remains a topical dissection of the American facination with the cult of the non-celebrity. Stephen Dorff is the angry young man who is amoung a group taken hostage by camcorder-weilding anarchists. They force the networks to broadcast their tapes, but it's the rebellious Dorff who soon becomes the star attraction. Dorff is suitably surly as the man fighting against his 15 minutes of fame and there's good suppourting work from a pre-fame Reese Witherspoon and Jake Busey. Director Jefery Levy demonstrates a sympathetic understanding of ninties teenage alienation. Overall and interesting and enthralling movie that is well worth watching.

Take a look at this film and you will be amazed at how it predicted the future -- from OJ to JFK jr. Also, how many films have there been since SFW that have dealt with the same themes, but not nearly as well? NBK; Mad City; Truman Show; Ed TV -- SFW is, quite simply, a work of genius -- even more amazing: the book was written by a 17 year old college kid in 1987! The film, while it parodies teen romance films, also deals with the way popular culture (not just the media) take a person or event, uses it to sell, sell, sell, then discards it, usually destroying it/him. The big cycle of pop culture. Check it out for yourself.

WOW! I'm always amazed and intrigued when I read such mixed reviews about a film.

I had no idea until now that this came out the same year as "Natural Born Killers," but while I watched it I was reminded of the same satiric, brutal, over-the-top portrayal of the hype that fuels a media frenzy. If that type of movie offends or disappoints you, S.F.W. will probably probably have the same effect.

The story was purposefully exaggerated and for the most part darkly comical, but it was also violent and raw. Besides being thoroughly entertained, I was reminded why I have no desire to be famous - not even for 15 minutes. I'd rather be invisible than have my life examined under a microscope and judged by people who form their perception of me based on what they have been led to believe or by something I've done at a certain point that doesn't represent who I really am as a person. Then again, that's often what happens in reality.

Obviously there are countless individuals who have adopted the "So F___ing What" attitude throughout history. I have no trouble imagining a film today (17 years later) that makes a parody of "W.T.F." becoming a national mantra and the results that might transpire.

A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized and heroic public image. I had to state that first because that's just what this film is about. SFW peels back the layers of psychology to ask why people feel the need to follow or worship something as a group continuem. The film was ahead of its time upon release but it sure did foreshadow what was to come. If you look at culture today we as a society make celebrities out of anyone who does an outlandish act or simply associates with celebrities. Look at modern tv for example with shows like Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives series, celebrity worship is at an all time high, but did you ever ask yourself why are these people becoming celebrities or famous? I believe in today's age if you were to take anyone off the streets and clean them up. Put them in trendy clothes and plant them all over the television for a period of time, they would become famous for basically having achieved nothing. The movie does a very good job of showing what the media does and how easily they do it. Fame is a hard thing and often hard to deal with. Society along with the media love to build someone up just to watch them fall only to see if they can get better again. We have seen this with Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan,and Robert Downey Jr and these are people with true talent. Unfortunetly some don't make it through like Corey Haim (RIP). It's sad that media makes disposable caricatures out of people, as fast as they put them up....they put them down. SFW is a very deep film and speaks volumes about pop culture and celebrity worship.

I disagree this movie was ahead of its time. It was actually a little late. Sarcastic, campy, crude, trashy, and smart enough to play dumb. This probably should have been a Christian Slater movie in the ilk of Heathers, Gleaming the Cube, and Pump up the Volume. It also hearkens to the ultimate of all 80's teen angst cult classics: Suburbia. It basically took the 80's teen angst alt/punk flick and brought it to the mid-90's. It's a fun movie with a great sense of humor to those who get it, and completely vile and trashy to those who don't. Sadly, looking back, this was the last of it's kind. The era of the low budget smartass punk kid indie flick has been gone a long time, replaced by sparkling vampires, Hot Topic fashion, and soundtracks featuring top 40 music. To me, this movie is a time capsule of early to mid-90's alt culture, and a fun bit of nostalgia for those of us who were teenagers at the time, but other than the 30-40 age group, I have no idea who else it would appeal to.

This is greasy-haired, mid-90's, existentialist anti-drama at it's finest. Cliff Spab walks the world, like Camus' Stranger, unaffected by the violence, sex and drugs that inundate him. He stands, balanced on the edge of a knife, sometimes loathing the people around him for their foolishness and self-serving pretensions, and at other times loving them and embracing them for their helplessness and curiousity.

Not all people are capable of enjoying this movie.

This has to be one of the worst movies ever made--even worse than some of the crap that Hollywood has churned out this year. It seems like an experiment in star power, where the makers tried to see how bad they could make it and still draw stupid teenagers based a long and repetitive string of curse words and who was in it. Unfortunately, who was in it then amounts to nobody now, so there's not even the chance of striking a chord of nostalgia. It's just a bunch of used-to-be's exercising their overgrown egos. I'd use the disc for a coaster, but I don't want to be reminded of the time I wasted giving this piece of trash a chance. Overall, a big fat zero.

Save your money. This is a terrible movie. I don't know what else to say about it. I can't believe that Reese Witherspoon agreed to do this movie. This is a trashy movie and not fit for children of any age.

I'm sure fans who wrote four star reviews won't like this, but that's okay because I didn't like this movie. Stephen Dorff stars as Cliff Spab a onetime burger boy who finds himself thrust into the media spotlight after being taken hostage by a group of terrorists dubbed The Split Image. Spab was just going to get a sixer but found himself tied to a chair along with his best friend (Jack Noseworthy) and a cute blonde named Wendy (Reese Witherspoon). Spab becomes the group spokesman spouting such inspirational codas as "So F'ing what. Everything is nothing and doesn't mean anything". The media seize on the opportunity to turn him into an instant celeb and soon Spab's face is everywhere from T-shirts to CD covers. He's also broadcast 24-7 on every T.V. station. Spab finds it impossible to enjoy any kind of normal life since he's become so famous and all his friends want something from him. I agree with some reviewers who say the film is ahead of it's time but I also say it's all in the delivery. All of the characters, most of all Spab, are so tasteless and annoying. Witherspoon appears too young and naive to come down on her hard. Jake Busey is kind of entertaining as one of Spab's crazy friends but the best bits of casting are Joey Lauren Adams and Natasha Gregson Wagner. Adams is super cute and has about three seconds of nudity in the film. Gregson Wagner plays a Spab follower who doesn't go as far with her idol as Adams does. If this movie's message is "So F'ing What" than why the hell make it?

A little bit of everything in this movie, comedy sarcasm, violence, sex, srugs and great soundtrack, Gwar, Manson, Soundgarden... I can't believe it's almost impossible to find now....