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Slackers

compiled by Jeffrey Overstreet
from Film Forum, 02/07/02

Another film getting 2002 off to a lousy start is Dewey Nicks' directorial debut, Slackers. The film follows three college cheaters who agree to help a klutzy nerd get the girl of his dreams if he will help them pass their exams. What follows are crass, locker-room humor exploits of the lowest variety. Sounds like the biggest slacker is the screenwriter.

John Adair (Preview) writes, "The three cheaters really care about no one but themselves, and even when one of them does the 'virtuous' thing, his ultimate motive is still getting what he wants out of the deal. This film is just the most recent in a long line of crude comedies seemingly directed at teens, yet including more than enough content for a strong R rating."

Phil Boatwright says "It's certainly not good vs. evil. It's not even dumb vs. dumber. It's more like bad vs. badder. It's crude, exploitive and generally insulting to the funny bone."

"Dreadful," says the critic at the U.S. Catholic Conference. "Waffling between creepy and comedic … Nicks' sorry film is a churlish bore that regurgitates familiar gross-out humor and sexual jokes as it panders to the lowest common denominator."

Michael Elliott (Movie Parables) says that Nicks, despite "showing an interesting visual style," has "unfortunately decided to take the gross-out humor approach to storytelling. The film does reflect a talent of some note, but its taste for 'shock humor' will wear thin on all but those weaned on the comedy of Tom Green and the Farrelly Brothers. The moral 'lesson' given in the film (i.e., it is better to tell the truth than to lie) is neither sincere nor fully represented. These slackers never really learn their lesson nor are their actions followed by appropriate consequences."

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