Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes, director and writer of Art School Confidential (second meeting after Ghost World), have here a perplexing convergence of sensibilities. It's a film that I really wanted to like more than I ended up doing so. It has a premise that is not bad at all. A suburban kid constantly picked on as a kid (and virgin) goes to an odd-ball (and usual kind of) art school, where he meets people who are, admittedly by the film itself, walking clichés.
And for the first half hour, give or take, I thought the satire (and, more importantly in this case, laughs) that Zwigoff and Clowes were aiming for went off splendidly. There are some funny vignettes showing the young Jerome (Max Minghella, whom I'll get to next paragraph) trying to adjust to this new world, where he has troubles finding the right girl, and in general to his fellow drawing classmates as they mouth off as the pretentious being brilliance. BUT, then the storyline takes a bit of a detour, and it along with the characters never fully recover.
The problem I see reminded me of why another film that targeted a specific group in-wind of an institution-kind of setting, so to speak, like Election, worked well and this didn't. Not to compare too much as they're different films, while Election could work in balancing out some of the more dramatic aspects with the satire, Art School Confidential just couldn't. As the filmmakers get more into the love story portion of the film, then into the serial killer storyline (involving characters with secrets soon revealed), one realizes that a) what little satire is left is overwhelmed by the dourness that accompanies the darker side of Jerome's descent into art-school hell, and b) its star Minghella just can't pull it off totally.
As an actor he often has a look on his face and in his eyes that's very much the same scene to scene, close to being on the verge of weeping outright (yes, even more than Jake Gyllenhall in his earlier years). Overall his work isn't awful, but there's more needed for this rather simplistic character - when it comes down to it (and, admittedly, clichéd but not an interesting kind)- and is outranked by other superior actors like Malkovich and Broadbent.
Maybe some might find more wit in the film's later half than I did, but even the ending that tries to put one more satirical point in the works, seems like its been in other films before. And there are a couple of points logistically in the story that just don't work (i.e. certain particulars that one once SOBER could see put on the paintings). Despite a few bright spots early on, and some cutting wit and clever jabs at the ponderousness of how art school's work (with some of the best material from Ethan Suplee's sub-plot as a struggling filmmaker), it's a disappointment coming from this writer/director duo. For all the possibilities that could be open with such material, only a few are realized.
And for the first half hour, give or take, I thought the satire (and, more importantly in this case, laughs) that Zwigoff and Clowes were aiming for went off splendidly. There are some funny vignettes showing the young Jerome (Max Minghella, whom I'll get to next paragraph) trying to adjust to this new world, where he has troubles finding the right girl, and in general to his fellow drawing classmates as they mouth off as the pretentious being brilliance. BUT, then the storyline takes a bit of a detour, and it along with the characters never fully recover.
The problem I see reminded me of why another film that targeted a specific group in-wind of an institution-kind of setting, so to speak, like Election, worked well and this didn't. Not to compare too much as they're different films, while Election could work in balancing out some of the more dramatic aspects with the satire, Art School Confidential just couldn't. As the filmmakers get more into the love story portion of the film, then into the serial killer storyline (involving characters with secrets soon revealed), one realizes that a) what little satire is left is overwhelmed by the dourness that accompanies the darker side of Jerome's descent into art-school hell, and b) its star Minghella just can't pull it off totally.
As an actor he often has a look on his face and in his eyes that's very much the same scene to scene, close to being on the verge of weeping outright (yes, even more than Jake Gyllenhall in his earlier years). Overall his work isn't awful, but there's more needed for this rather simplistic character - when it comes down to it (and, admittedly, clichéd but not an interesting kind)- and is outranked by other superior actors like Malkovich and Broadbent.
Maybe some might find more wit in the film's later half than I did, but even the ending that tries to put one more satirical point in the works, seems like its been in other films before. And there are a couple of points logistically in the story that just don't work (i.e. certain particulars that one once SOBER could see put on the paintings). Despite a few bright spots early on, and some cutting wit and clever jabs at the ponderousness of how art school's work (with some of the best material from Ethan Suplee's sub-plot as a struggling filmmaker), it's a disappointment coming from this writer/director duo. For all the possibilities that could be open with such material, only a few are realized.