'S. F. W.' (1994).....lays out quite an ambitious agenda.....it seems, on its surface, to celebrate nihilism as the only logical response to the media's unholy obsession with the cult of celebrity.....and our own obsession with gorging on the media's perpetual carnival of supposed winners and losers in the public eye....
(You could easily tune out the film's heavy reliance on angry punk-rock/grunge anthems....all you need do to get the gist of 'S.F.W.' : listen to Don Henley's classic "Dirty Laundry" one time....)
Currently overwhelmed by their 15 minutes of fame are slacker Cliff Spab (Stephen Dorff) and high school golden girl Wendy Pfister (Reese Witherspoon). They're the only survivors of a terryifying 36 day ordeal in a convenience store, where they were held hostage by the most generic, Plot Device terrorists I've ever seen in a movie.....(and serve no real function except to get the ball rolling....)
These hazmat-suited, goggled whatevers use video to chronicle and publicize their hostages grueling ordeal...... and Cliff's 'So-fucking-what' response to the situation makes him an instant idol and icon to all of his similarly disaffected peers
As Cliff navigates his way through friends, foes, and crowds who fawn over him as the world's new flavor-of-the-moment, he duly performs his role as the biggest smartass in the room.......but to nobody's surprise, his 's.f.w.' routine, like most of reality TV, is a sham. His trauma affected him deeply and he pines for Wendy, who's been cut off from contact with him.
Overall, the film's as fast and furiously paced as all of today's current social media onslaught......the its withering takedowns of TV talk shows (and their phony, simpering hosts) make it a never-a-dull-moment ride. And more importantly, it further confirms everyone's suspicions that every convenience store provides an entry into the 9th Circle Of Hell......3 stars (***)
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