The only thing that I could think about in this entire review is how much it would cost to send that letter to an existential place such as a year would cost, when an Email would be free.

Other than that for me the voice over got a little annoying because there were very little breaks in the sentences for the audience to breath, but besides that the jokes were on point, and it is interesting to look back on a pointless movie.

I don't really remember anyone really having email back in 1994. Sending a letter to 1994 would make more sense than sending an email, even though they did have it in some capacity.

But I was seven then so what do I know.

Although you would be able to put cheaper stamps on the letter I'm sure the time travel mailbox would be horribly expensive to maintain, what with the mini DeLorean engine being a gas hog. I'm thinking the letter would be around $82.74. But only because it's handwritten and really long and probably a very heavy letter.

I remember email in 1994...it was called Eudora.

Aww, you didn't like Meet the Parents? Review it! I want to know why. XD

Winona Ryder was so hot. Any scenes in reality bites as good as the one in Dracula where she runs down her garden's steps while it's raining dressed in a nightie?

Lindsay identifyies with the characters who're outsiders b/c she self-identifies as an outsider.

Zoolander's even worse than Meet the Parents. A ridiculously bad movie must amuse Lindsay more than a hollywood-standard bad movie.

What Lindsay references "how it's framed" is better phrased as "the execution" because she's talking less about context and more about how much the movie's portrayal of a situation persuades her to agree with characters decisions and the interpretation she presumes the author desires the audience derives. If the male lead defined irony to her liking she wouldn't find him so condescending.

You're supposed to hate Plainview. The book Oil was written by a marxist who hates oil barons, wrongly identifies robber-baron types as the manifestation of capitalism, and his book pits plainview against his other hated group Christians. The film's an extremely rare example of a movie adaptation superior to its' source material, like Fight Club. The flick's characters are much more sympathetic and the morality more ambivalent while the book's messages are obnoxiously obvious.

Notice she acts like she'll answer "what makes a female character good?" then changes topic.

Lindsay your show's your thoughts on movies and tv shows. You're not far from the home movies and youtube content you criticize.

It ain't right to be queer. Just ask your DNA.

You can't effectively oppose the marketplace, short of becoming a hermit living alone foraging in some wilderness, because businessmen will always adapt to suite your tastes. Want to be a hippy? Here's tie-dye shirts. Want to be green? Here's a bag to recycle made of recycled materials. Want to be a communist? Here's a shirt with Che's face on it. Don't want to support big conglomerates? Here's handmade jewelry.

Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong.

I'm sorry, did you actually type the words 'It ain't right to be queer. Just ask your DNA'? What's wrong with being gay? Just because we like the same sex doesn't make us wrong. It's no more a choice than being straight. What IS a choice however, is choosing to be a bigoted douche who chooses to follow idiotic, archaic and outdated morals, rather than living in the 21st century, and realizing that people are people, no matter what, and you cannot judge someone for something they didn't choose. I didn't choose to like girls, it just happened, I just happened to be gay. And if you wanna talk DNA, look up modern scientific data: It's been proven that homosexuality is in the genes you moron! They proved it years ago! *ok, rant at bigot over*

Life is so hard when you're white, pretty, and middle class in a thriving economy I imagine.

White people problems. lol.

As the kids say, "#firstworldproblems".

I love the presentation of this review. The only thing that would have made it better would have been the handwritten words appearing above your head as you wrote them à la 60s/70s Peanuts specials.

this is great. you're so smart Lindsay, that's what I love about your reviews. you almost always give us something to think about.

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Thank you so much for hating this film.

I've always considered Reality Bites to be what would happen if the Slasher never showed up in a slasher film and we actually had to spend 90 minute listening to asshole bitch about their useless lives.

THIS!

That pretty much sums it up. These characters are as hollow as it gets.

Someone else who hates Meet the Parents! Yay! How long ago was that movie--do you think it could show up on the show?

(I will admit it's the best of the series, though. I couldn't make it through either of the others. And I'm pretty good at sitting through crappy movies.)

This movie deserves a sequel. One in which The sell out is doing well for himself because when the economy became shit he had plenty to fall back on because he was a sell out, the "artists" who where too good to pay rent are bums living on the streets begging for money to feed their drug addictions, the gay man was murdered bay homophobs because he was gay, the woman who could have has an STD doesn't change caught one then died from it and the asshole in the band and the woman who made the "documentary" are both struggling to survive in this economy.
I brutal and cynical deconstruction of a triable movie, it would be epic, awesome and I forgot the third overused word.

It would be....extreeeeeeme!

Aww this review really was nostalgic for me, my first ever girlfriend had a poster for this movie in her bedroom and I remember at 14 thinking the characters were the coolest people ever conceived, rather than the awful pretentious precursors to Dawson's Creek adult me now knows they were.
Around the same time there was a movie called 'Singles' whose characters I also idolised, please don't crush my memories further by reviewing that one too, i'm sure in hindsight it's just as terrible.

Weirdly enough I thought the preview image of Ben Stiller was Jim True-Frost (aka Prez from the Wire (which everyone should totally watch (suck it 1994 the 00's TV destroys yours(I like anthropomorphising time periods (i'm now wasted my yearly supply of brackets(or parentheses)))) who was in Singles.

But...but...

...the definition given in this movie of "irony" is a correct definition. Not of socratic or dramatic irony, but the dictionary I just grabbed off my shelf (The American Heritage Dictionary, fourth edition) gives "the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning". Irony is not, however, anything Alanis Morissette thinks it is. Until she recorded a slow piano ballad version of "My Humps".

You're right, it is A definition, but it's not the definition of what you normally think of as irony. It more describes sarcasm.

It shows the guy just read the dictionary without actually thinking about whether it actually applied to the specific use he was being asked about.

Though, maybe not caring if your definition is appropriate is part of being "disaffected."

Irony is a bit more subtle than sarcasm. Sarcasm combines grammar with vocal inflection so that the received meaning is the opposite of the language used. Think of sarcasm as a deliberately exaggerated form of verbal irony.

sarcasm noun
[mass noun]

the use of irony to mock or convey contempt.
- Oxford english dictionary.

basicly sarcasm is the use of irony or understatmet in a mocking manner. The definition for irony used in the movie is the definition for Literal irony, one for in wich irony may appear. A good definition for irony is a situation were a contridiction appear between the implied and expected meaning.

Actually, the problem is that irony has been missused for the past 15 years. The definition in the Movie is 100% correct. The fact that it's used wrong doesn't change that.

That said, the dude that's in charge of the Oxford English Dictionary has said that he would be willing to change the definition to the way it's used this days.

No, it's the definition. The fact that many people think otherwise just means they're wrong.

On an interview I heard her on, she said none of the examples she had in the song were ironic. And that was the ironic part about it.

I hate it when people use the word ironic in a sentence because they never use it properly. And it seems people use the world incorrectly a lot.

Well then the writers of that dictionary got it wrong as well. It happens.

Even if one wanted to put it in a superficial one-line description, it should say 'something other than' instead of 'opposite', or a lot of the more subtle kinds of irony would just be ... snark ?

Yeah, I was smart enough to be upset by the framing in Twilight. Please tell me you were smart enough to know that there was never any other romantic choice for Bella. It was a book about vampires, so of course she was going to wind up with the vampire. Neither book nor movie even remotely tried to hide it. The whole team thing made me laugh.

When you said she chose Edward, you were just using it in a narrative sense, right? Like when in a romantic comedy they choose the guy they meet cute with. We know it all along, but the narrative requires the pretext of a choice, of "will they or won't they." That's what you meant, right?

I thought she was going to end up with that rich snob!

XD Good one!

I still think Bella should have made happy with the van that almost hit her. I would have actually enjoyed the series.

"Irony. It's when the actual meaning is the completely apposite from the literal meaning" That..makes..no..sense.

Actually it does. The character just phrased it in a weird way. What he should have said is something like "irony is when the intended meaning of a word or phrase is the opposite of its literal meaning." For example, if someone gets a flat tire on the way to an important appointment and they say something like "oh that's fucking perfect" that is irony.

You're really mad, lmao. But I totally agree. You know what really sucks about this movie? It's that it panders to the youngsters who want nothing more than to rebel against life itself, when all the movie really seems to want to do is swipe their cash right out of their pockets. Hypocritical much?
Movie = The Man. The Man who's conning teenagers and tweens out of their money by pretending to be one of them.

I will admit it does get one thing right. The fact that all the nice people who never really do anything to deserve punishment get punished anyway. While all the dickheads get away with everything. How is that exactly? Is it that they are sneaky? Because half the time they aren't. It also sums up 1994 very well. At least for the younger generation. I think the more adult films can easily be related to by people in 2012 just as well as the 90's, but that is just me. It just feels like it's the teenagers who are stuck in their own time frame, unable to escape it until they do in fact grow up.

Uh oh, I think she has the Tourette's.

One more thing: is there any way you could set it not to continue playing after the video is done? Is that possible now, or did Blip screw you over with that? Because your first Nchick review was nice, but I don't need to see it every time I watch one of your videos. Nor a repeat of the ad I watched at the beginning of the review I actually came to see.

Just wondering if you can turn that option off.

I second this and beg for an option to turn the stupid autoplay off.

Until that day, I have made do by immediately refreshing the page every time "Teen Witch in 6 Seconds" appears.

Second this too. I do the exact same think. It's really anoying.

You mentioned Stiller's role as director of the movie, a little surprised you didn't mention the person who actually wrote the characters you hated, a woman named Helen Childress.

I was in the demographic for this movie when it came out and never wanted to see it. The main thing I knew about it was that it contained the breakout hit of someone who it looked like would be the next big indie singer-songwriter, Lisa Loeb. Two powerful women you dissed by not mentioning their roles in making this film... Jeez!

as much as I hate this movie. The definition of irony is in line with definition 2 merium webster

iro·ny
noun ??-r?-n? also ??(-?)r-n?
plural iro·nies
Definition of IRONY
1
: a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning —called also Socratic irony
2
a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony
c : an ironic expression or utterance
3
a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity
b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play —called also dramatic irony, tragic irony
See irony defined for English-language learners »
See irony defined for kids »

The reason your average American can't define irony is because A)It has too many definitions, & B)Because the definitions all use big vocabulary words that also require dictionary look-ups.

I think she was being ironic.

Haha whats funny we still have people that have something but yet act just spoiled & ungrateful. While people with legit issues struggle and fight tooth & nail trying so hard to at least break even or even to have a day or 2 off for a rest.
You know what I agree that movie needed a slasher inside of it.

Love Nostalgia Chick and this is my first post on this website ever! Yay, me! Still, even as great of a review as this is, I wasn't particularly entertained by watching 15 minutes of NC pretending to write a letter. It became old and annoying very quickly. However, the insights are always on point.

Women!

I desagree. This was new, well done and entertaining. And quite impressive, since it must had been more difficult to put together than regular reviews.

The yardfull of rakes analogy made me laugh hard enough to lose my voice for a couple minutes, thanks.

Thank God for you Lindsay!

Thank you for proving that I'm not the only one who thinks this movie SUCKS like Windows '98.

http:// rogerebert.suntimes.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/19940218/REVIEWS/ 402180303

Ebert didn't like it either.

Lindsay,

I want to start by telling you that I think you're funny, and beautiful, and your thoughts are always well delivered and I would love to talk with you in person but... His definition of irony is almost spot on. The text book definition of irony IS when the use of words denote a meaning that is the opposite of their literal use. E.G. someone says "How nice for you!" when they actually mean "Please die." These days we tend to accept that irony includes ANY usage of a word to mean something other than its literal intent but the fact remains that Ethan's character is technically correct and it felt kind of self indulgent for you to be gritting your teeth in that moment, especially when you're calling out another writer who had done his homework.

Lindsey pretty much captured everything that was wrong (or at least twisted) with the zeitgeist of those days. Where is your angst now, Daria?

At least Daria eventually grew to having a point, and the characters growing beyond themselves...except for Chet and his band. They just stagnated like raw sewage.

Fun fact: in 1984 Blur released their 3rd album.

I've been thinking about this ever since Lindsay tweeted about it a while back. I've decided I somewhat disagree.

First, I don't think the movie is trying to make Winona Ryder or Ethan Hawke look all that admirable - especially not Ethan. But they're occasionally capable of being sweet to each other, and they make each other happy.

Second, as for Ben Stiller being the better man - Ben Stiller's character is the kind of nice guy who might one day destroy the world. Friendly, considerate, responsible, and kind of boring on a personal level. But at his job, he does things that he doesn't enjoy, with results that he knows are bad, not because he doesn't know better or because he's a psychopath, but simply because he believes "Well, that's the kind of thing you have to do in this world. I don't like it, but that's the way it is, and there's no use fighting it."

Ethan and Winona might be useless, but they're also relatively harmless. Ben Stiller - well right now he's just a content guy at the equivalent of MTV, so he can't do much harm either. But when he gets promoted to upper management (or when somebody like him goes into politics, or civil service, or journalism, or academia, or the army, or the police), watch out.

@Fontinau - I suppose that interpretation might have been implicit within the context of the time the movie was written, and I'll admit that I haven't seen it in a long time(I find a lot of the cast insufferable), but I didn't really see much of that kind of characterization in Stiller's role.

I mean, there was little to differentiate his character from, say, Drew Carey on the Drew Carey show, save for success and a bit of ambition. He never did much that seemed to imply surreptitiously evil machinations, he just seemed to be a bit of a dork who may not entirely "get" the material he was working with. He was certainly never overtly evil, and the most dangerous thing he did was supposedly destroy the "soul" of a morphous body of work that was pretty aimless to begin with.

But again, I haven't seen it in a while, and I hated so much else about it that I might've simply been too enthusiastic to latch onto Stiller because I was just so desperate to find one likable character of consequence(I like Steve Zahn and often Jeanine Garofalo, but they were practically non-entities in this) that I would've happily given the thumbs up to just about anyone that didn't come on screen and butcher the Violent Femmes.

@Mr. Ellaneous - Oh, Ben Stiller's character is never overtly evil. Never even close. You're absolutely right about that.

The problem is that many of the most horrible crimes in history were committed by people who also weren't overtly evil.

As for what he did - WE might think Winona's documentary was aimless. But HE didn't. He thought it was great. But he also thought it was necessary to add a lot of dumb, trashy bad stuff in order to get people to watch it. (Stuff that HE himself thought was bad. This isn't a case of a guy who sincerely enjoys schlock.)

Never, never, never trust the guy who thinks that it would be nice if we lived in a better world, but that, in the harsh, imperfect real world that is, he has to do bad things. They might just be little bad things today, but that might just be because he hasn't yet been in a situation that involves doing big things.

Oh, and the letter writing was brilliant.

Irony is a word whose sole function is to cause constant arguments about its definition.

Judging by some dictionary entries, he's not exactly wrong. Sounds like he's more or less going the Futurama route of "use of words expressing something other than their literal intention."

Somebody mentioned sarcasm, and yes the two are closely related, if not occasionally synonymous.

It's best just to stay away from that whole clustercuss.

Also 1994 isn't going to get any of those references.

Nice to see Lindsey has good taste in beer!

And the review was pretty good too.

Indeed! Sam Adams Octoberfest.