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Rated: R; Genre: Drama; With: Josh Hamilton and Eric Stoltz
A-

KICKING & SCREAMING Eric Stoltz, Josh Hamilton (1995, Vidmark, R, priced for rental) Cinematic cases of postcollege anomie suffer from a basic contradiction: Twentysomething graduates who are witty enough to snap off characteristically cutting one-liners would probably not waste their time seducing jailbait coeds and downing pitchers at the local watering hole. Writer-director Noah Baumbach's contribution to the genre -- with its typically static plot involving four friends chained by apathy to their alma mater and hating themselves for it -- adds no dramatic tension to that improbable scenario. But at least the dialogue (''Prague,'' scoffs Hamilton to his girlfriend. ''You'll come back as a bug'') scales the heights of post-Salinger acidity and provides an element of charming pathos well suited to home viewing. B+


Posted Apr 12, 1996
 

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