Rating: 
Summary: So much potential!
Review: This movie could have been really great. But, it just ended up being mediocre at best.
It's very stereotypical and predictable in it's portrayal of a bunch of twentysomethings living in an apartment together in the grunge era of the 90's.
Winona Ryder plays Lelaina Pierce, a freshly graduated college valedictorian who finds it impossible to find a job - or to choose between the two guys in her life (Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller).
It's really just a grunged out version of boy (ethan hawke) loves girl (winona ryder) but is too afraid to tell her, so girl goes off with another boy (ben stiller) and boy confesses his love to her, afraid that he will lose her forever - and now she must choose.It's not a horrible film. But it's nothing great either. If nothing else, it's a good keepsake of the grunge movement of the early nineties.
Rating: 
Summary: A Misunderstood Film of a Misunderstood Generation
Review: This movie is so fantastic, and, I beleive, a good movie for people of any age. The numerous pop-culture references do have the flavor of a certain American era, but the great humor in those references is timeless. You couldn't ask for a better cast, with Winona Ryder as Lelaina Pierce, a college valedictorian who learns that life can be rough to navigate even for someone as smart and hardworking as herself. Both Ethan Hawke as Troy and Ben Stiller as Michael are hysterically funny as drastically different characters who share nothing except a romantic love for Winona's character. This movie doesn't take itself too seriously-- it's just a really fun time.
Rating:
Summary: Awakenings
Review: This romantic comedy/ coming of age/ drama/ teen movie presents an intriguing an amusing look at the lives of the twentysomethings, showcasing their conflicts and doubts after graduation. Director Ben Stiller offers an interesting snapshot of the mid nineties, presenting a curious perspective of that zeitgeist and its atmosphere.
Stiller himself, Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke play three dazed and confused young adults who have to deal with troublesome situations and decisions in a turning point of their lives. The story focuses, with humor and some depth, the difficult and contrived process of growing up, offering characters that have contradictory views and ideas of the world.
The movie wisely covers multiple problems of the Genration X crowd, like the stuggle to find a decent job, the indecisions after graduation, the price of independence or the choices about love. Although this picture has a few years, it still seems fresh and poignant today, focusing situations that occur everywhere. "Reality Bites" is a fine, witty and clever flick, that despite its somewhat predictable plot proves to be a noteworthy and entertaining effort. A little gem and a good one to watch with a group of friends, since most youngsters can relate to it.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best movie
Review: This was probably the first movie I was ever tempted to walk out on. My daughter couldn't wait to see it, and I couldn't turn down a chance to see a Winona movie back then. As a senior member of Gen-X, I was insulted to find that the movie represented me. Blech. Let me assure you, it doesn't represent anyone but whining Hollywood socialites like Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Winona Rider, and Ethan Hawke. Are we actually supposed to believe that the valedictorian hadn't memorized the conclusion to her speech, or that she lost her notes? Are we supposed to sympathize with a character that does nothing but complain about her father, but then accepts the BMW he gives her and the gas card that she uses to pay off her astrology hotline bills? Now maybe the second inconsistency is a cute attempt at depth, but the first is just lame. We are told over and over that the Ethan Hawk character is smart, but at no point is he actually *shown* to be smart. He quotes TV commercials. He plays in a band that covers Violent Femmes songs (badly). He majored in philosophy. Big deal - if they didn't keep telling us, you would think that he was just a lazy, arrogant, no-talent slob. The "gay character" shows up in three 10 second appearances (or maybe it was just 2, and I was hoping for a third so the movie would explain what the others were all about?). I can't believe that anyone would include a gay character so gratuitously - maybe the rest of it ended up on the editing room floor. If not, then I want to know - where were the Native American, black, Puerto Rican, Haitian, transvestite, transexual, AB negative, and other minority characters? Buy this movie used (you don't want to encourage them to print more). Destroy it and incinerate the pieces. Then buy something worth watching and relax in the knowledge that you have done something positive for humanity. Then go get Singles or Romy and Michele's High School Reunion - they succeed in being just as deep as RB without the pretension, and they are a heck of a lot more entertaining (and the soundtrack to Singles is better).
Rating: 
Summary: CAN FINALLY RELATE TO THIS FILM NOW THAT I'M IN MY 20s....
Review: When this film hit theatres in 1994, I was a high school junior who had just scored a 4 on my Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History test, and passed my AP English and Biology tests as well. I was included in the "Who's Who" of American High School students (twice), selected by my high school faculty to attend three prestigious leadership camps (including a journalism conference in DC), and was a member of a popular local R&B group to boot. Oh, and I spoke at my high school graduation too. The point is, I had a lot going for me, so this movie about the utter mediocrity of post-college life (for some) meant nothing to me at the time. Except for the brilliantly simple song "Stay," by Lisa Loeb, that grabbed me the first time I saw it on MTV during what I consider one of the best summers for Alternative music - period. Now almost ten years later, the happenings in this film finally resonate with my own life experience. I can relate to Ethan Hawke's despairing character who seems to have detached himself from his miserable situation and become wrapped up in his own philisophical musings on the futility of life. And I can also certainly relate to the despair that Winona Ryder's character felt when her dreams weren't exactly coming true for her, despite what she percieved as her gift for filmmaking. The title of the film means so much more to me now than it did before. When I was an overachieving high school student, and super-involved college student at UC Santa Barbara, I thought I had the world in the palm of my hand. I thought life would be a breeze after graduation. Boy was I wrong. The Ben Stiller character is who I thought I would be, and who I still hope to be. Because pop culture really is my passion. More than anything, Reality Bites seems to be a personal statement from Ben Stiller, a hollywood figure who I have seriously come to admire over the years. His brand of cerebral humor is definitely a breath of fresh air. He is able to point fun at otherwise devastating situations (like shattered dreams) and I have to hand it to him. I really did feel better after viewing this film. For those of you reading this review, all I will say is this: if you've ever known what it feels like to have a life plan and realize it is not going the way you wanted it to no matter how hard you try, this film will have something to say. I don't know if I buy the "at the end of the day, it's all about love" solution just yet. But I'll admit that I'm a lot closer to that conclusion than I used to be. Thanks for reading. D. Knytel.
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