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

I went to see Slackers fully aware of the possible consequences. It was just as I expected: a stale teen comedy that relies on sexual humor instead of a quality plot to sell tickets. At first I had some hope for the movie. Because of its title, there was the possibility that this could be a movie that accurately captured the essence of true procrastinating college students. The movie started off relatively promisingly (for a Hollywood teen flick, that is), introducing us to a trio of college students (played by Devon Sawa, Jason Segel, and Michael Maronna) who find cunning ways to cheat on exams. But the movie quickly takes on a twist and never revisits that area again. A nerd named Ethan (Jason Schwartzman [Rushmore]) stumbles upon the trio's schemes and uses evidence to blackmail them. Ethan demands for the trio to use their cunning to hook him up with a girl named Angela (James King III [Pearl Harbor]) who he obsessively reveres like a goddess. The rest of the movie is about the trio trying to do what Ethan demands lest he exposes them and gets them expelled. So now, the whole "Slackers" theme gets tossed out to make way for this plot. Naturally, typical Hollywood-ish conflicts arise. Predictably, Dave, one of the slackers, falls for Angela and well, you can fill out the rest.

The movie is a comedy and has some funny moments. But overall, it isn't even that funny. It uses a lot of gross-out humor, possibly in an attempt to spur word-of-mouth in the way Scary Movie did. I don't want to ruin any of the good parts because otherwise this movie would be really bad. A lot of the humor revolves around Ethan's obsession with Angela, you know, serenades below the bedroom window, an altar in worship of Angela, the whole shebang. Also, Ethan is basically a white Steve Urkel (remember that show?) getting laughs with clumsy antics and overreaction. It's a very typical Hollywood teenage movie. If that's the kind of stuff you're into, by all means, go and watch it. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for low-grade humor. This would be a good movie for that time. If you're one of those people who thought movies like Dude, Where's My Car? were hilarious, then you'll probably like this movie. Personally, I've had it with movies like this recklessly throwing the word "love" around. Dave's relationship with Angela is purely physical yet he claims that he loves her and the audience is supposed to believe it and that is supposed to be the reason why the two end up with each other at the end (oops, did I spoil the ending? Nah, you knew that was coming all along.). The justification for this "true love" is all that "it-felt-right-oh-and-you-changed-my-life-forever" load of crap. Like Dave's going to stop being a lazy pot-smoking cheater just because of Angela. But of course, a lot of movies are like that, so I am not solely attacking Slackers when I say all of this.

In conclusion, this is nowhere near a great movie. It's a decent movie to rent on a boring Friday night while hanging out with the guys. It's rated R for the usual reasons; probably anyone under 15 shouldn't see this.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age