(2005) Writer/director Noah Baumbach's dyspeptic (with heartache) comedy of post-college funk among a group of Gen-Xers in the small town of Munton is full of witty wimpiness.

What's the worst-case scenario after graduation? "Do I have to start paying back my loan, like, tomorrow?" asks Skippy (Jason Wiles) on graduation night. "Ding," responds Grover Cary (Josh Hamilton): "Jane dumps me to move to Prague. I spend the rest of my life with you idiots." Meaning philosophy major Max Belmont (Chris Eigeman) and Otis (Carlos Jacott), who needs self-esteem and wears mascara and a pajama top.

In his tenth year in school as a philosophy/German major, Chet (Eric Stoltz) bartends ("but I have said before that if Plato is a fine red wine ... then Aristotle is a dry martini") after having tried a career at writing term papers for undergrads. "Ding. Forget everything you learned."

Three months later, Jane (Olivia D'Abo), having moved to Prague to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer, leaves phone messages for Grover (continuing his education as a writer) about her travels, seeing Kafka's residences, and how the beer and coffee are so much better there; he expects her to "Come back as a bug."

His roommates (someone writes "Broken Glass" on a piece of paper, covering a pile of shards on the kitchen floor) - Otis watches TV (fascinated to see if a detergent can get out a bicycle-grease stain in a commercial) until getting a job at Video Planet, Max does crossword puzzles and goes to bed with their fourth pal Skippy's girlfriend Miami (Parker Posey) - ask each other if they've masturbated, play their trivia-game show (Whom would you rather be stranded with on a desert island, MacNeil or Lehrer? - Ebert), and consider a name for their friendship club, Cougars.

Grover's high-school tutee Kate (Cara Buono) asks him how's his love life: "C plus." Reminiscing and trying to relive Jane with freshmen girls such as Amy, chatting with a waitress (Ms Hayworth, who comes up with a rejoinder 14 hours later) from his composition class, and pretending to write a novel, Grover speaks of his LBJ parents - his father (Elliott Gould) tries to discuss his new sex life - who are separating: "like there's no satisfactory reason why they became parents ... like my real parents were assassinated ... and these people just were next in line for the job."

When Kate tells Max she's going to be seventeen, he gets anxious: "That's terrible. That's just the worst. Now I won't know what to get you. If I get you a big gift, it looks like I'm overcompensating and coming on too strong. If I get you something small ... I look cheap. I've inherited a tragedy. It's like a venereal disease, a birthday at this point." After she replies - "You know, I don't know why everything is so glum with ya at first. Potatoes, parking ... toppings on pizza. I like birthdays" - he says: "So, now you can read Seventeen magazine ... and finally get all the references."

As finals approach the following year, Max says to his buddies: "We stay together out of fear."

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Copyright © 2010 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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