Art School Confidential (2006)

As an art student, I hated this film. It's just garbage.Absolutely full to the brim of clichés that on the surface ring true (stoners, goths, hippies, queer folk, hardcore feminists all make appearances in art school) but these characters are pure 2D cardboard cut out 'characters' only included so the audience can laugh at them.Speaking as a representational artist, I hate that this heavily biased toward the idea that representational art is superior to abstract art. It wreaks of immaturity and not actually understanding the purpose of it.Forced romance, terribly unlikable characters with unbelievable lines that are delivered terribly.

I watched this movie at the recommendation of a friend. Honestly, I feel like I've more or less wasted my time with it. I'm an art student, so I'm not talking from outside of this world. Now, I understand that this movie is intended as a bit of a parody, but it fails to deliver that. It's filled with clichés and just disappointed me. From the very start, I didn't like Jerome. Badly written character. He lacks depth, personality, and is weak. He so easily changed his mind about life after talking to Mr. Serial Killer that I almost laughed. Suddenly, everything is dark and brooding, while the movie didn't set the pacing or the atmosphere for this kind of mystery flick. Besides, the ending being left unexplained doesn't "make me think" as I imagine was intended, it just leaves me dry and uninterested. The only reason I'm giving this a 6 is some of the secondary role actors who were good in their place, and some scenes that sparked my interest. Maybe my expectations of this were too high.

So there seems to be a lot of debate amongst people who have watched this movie. Some say the movie completely changes half way through, others say those people just don't get that the movie is the ultimate jab at the art world today. I myself completely believe it abandons what made the movie good in the first place. Don't get me wrong I get what the movie was going for in the end, but I'm sorry if this movie is supposed to be the ultimate jab at how the art world works today then the movie is completely full of itself. Of course from the early parts of the movie there is hints that the movie could move into darker places and the movie was poking fun at the art world from the start, but give me a break. The way this movie goes from a funny black comedy and just completely turns dark half way through is an insult to the viewer because it abandons why people liked the movie in the first place. Now I get that the mood changes because Jerome's idea of art and the world around him changes, but there is ways to convey that message without removing the sarcastic/funny edge. In all honesty if the whole idea of this movie was to get to the dark ending, then the first half of the movie should of been more in line with the last half. I feel like 2 different people made this movie and never consulted each other on what they were doing. One half seems to be a funny "haha" jab at how stupid the art world can be and the last half feels like a big F U! to the art world. Funny thing is that I watched this movie with my partner who is a painter and he loved how the movie poked fun at all the dumb things he had to go through at art school, but when the movie went completely dark he said and I quote "that last half was f*cking stupid".I do think people should watch this movie, but just beware to not get caught up in the funny side because you'll be disappointed.Oh yeah, I should also mention that the love story plays a pivotal role in this movie which you'll see when you watch it. But!!! no matter how much the love story is integral to the whole story, it does not excuse the movie going from a black comedy about art, school, love and life to entirely dark.I could really say so much more because there are things I didn't mention, but just go watch it and come to your own conclusions.

Max Minghella stars in another Terry Zwigoff(Ghost world) comedic masterpiece, Art school confidential. I never saw his first,Crumb, loved his second, Ghost world, never saw Bad Santa, and his last movie, Art school confidential, almost tops Ghost world, which is one of my favorite films.Minghella plays Jerome, a artsy virgin who goes to Art school to achieve his dream and be like his idol,Picasso. He has the potential of being an artist. He is excellent,but the morons at the school prefer something more simple and stupid. Kind of like the portion of "Ghost world" which involves Enid at the art class.Jerome falls for a model(Sophia Myles) named Audrey, who poses at the school. But she soon falls for Jonah(played by Matt Keasler), who's crappy amateur art work draws everyone's interest for some reason. Amidst all of this, there is a serial killer loose on campus who is strangling everyone.This isn't quite as good as Ghost world. The ending isn't really resolved as much as it should, and though funny, the class is annoying. But Art school confidential is very interesting and funny. And fun.Some of it is a little too familiar on the Zwigoff side. The cast is excellent. It also includes John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Angelica Huston, and Steve Buscemi. Art school confidential isn't perfect. Ghost world is. But Art school confidential is still a good movie. See it.3.5/4