Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.


SFW (1994)

Stephen Dorff is Cliff Spab
Reese Witherspoon is Wendy Pfister
Jake Busey is Morrow Streeter
Joey Lauren Adams is Monica Dice

I thin S.F.W. was intended to be a biting satire on how the media can make any loser a hero. Unfortunately it falls flat in this respect. The movie just seems to try to hard to shove the 'hero' down your throat and leaves the other characters in the background. The movie was also sort of boring to me, I know the first time I saw this I was about 19 and I thought it was ok. Now 7 years later it just bores me. I personally do not find entertainment in watching a whiney, foul mouthed guy for 2 hours. If you are offended by a lot of swearing the avoid this at all costs. The 'F' word is used in just about every line in the movie.

SFW is a story of how the media can make instant celebrity out of anyone. Cliff Spab becomes a hero after being held captive with some other people, including rich girl Wendy Pfister, his best friend Joe, in a mini-mart for over a month. Spab is a major slacker and alcoholic who goes into the mini-mart with his buddy and they become hostages of a strange group of terrorists. These terrorists film all the hostages and demand that the news channels play the footage round the clock or they will start killing people. Eventually most of the hostages end up dead and we are left with Joe, Spab and Wendy. Throughout the ordeal Spab and Wendy had become the focus. Eventually the beer in the mini mart runs out and Joe decides to make a break for it, he grabs a captors gun and begins shooting, Spab pushes Wendy away and goes to help, Joe and Spab end up shot with Joe dying. Most of this you learn in flash back style, through Spab's memory.

The majority of the movie features Spab's life of a quasi-celebrity after he is out of the hospital. You see Spab became an icon for the viewing public with his "so f*ucking what" attitude. Everyone wants a piece of him and he just wants to be left alone. So he sets out on a series of adventures while trying to shun celebrity and find Wendy, who is busy on the talk show circuit. Eventually we see Spab come to grudgingly accept his fame and he is reunited with Wendy. But as he learns in the end the media who made him a hero will drop him as soon as the next 'icon' comes along.

Dorff did a good job at playing Spab. He got the slacker part down and as a responsible adult I really did find him repulsive. Joey Lauren Adams had a small role as the grieving sister of Joe but she was underused and her part ended up being pretty lame. She got to rage about how Spab is a big hero and her brother is forgotten, but then they have her sleep with Spab. Jake Busey is the same guy he is in every movie. He is the buddy of Spab who is out to use him too. I really think that Reese Witherspoon was great in the small bits we got to see her in, and it is too bad they did not focus more on that character.

Overall if you want to see a good movie with topics similar to this try Wag the Dog, The Truman Show or even EdTV. Do not waste your time on this stinker.



Recommended: No

Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older