Main cast: Devon Sawa (Dave Goodman), Jason Segel (Sam Schechter), Michael Maronna (Jeff Davis), Jason Schwartzman (Ethan Dulles), Jaime King (Angela Patton), and Laura Prepon (Reanna)
Director: Dewey Nicks
Lacking both the wit and the ability to be amuse, Slackers is the movie to watch when teenage boys want to delude themselves into believing that lying and cheating are the best ways to get laid. This is a movie that caters to those that believe that being an asshole is the greatest achievement a man can ever attain. And unlike the American Pie that understands that these kind of males can only work if they are portrayed as bumbling idiots, this movie makes prom kings out of these charm-free and thoroughly obnoxious sleazeballs. And its biggest mistake is to assume that Devon Sawa can pass himself off as a seductive and suave Roger the Dodger. Maybe if the scriptwriters pass me their bong stash that they abused while writing the script, I may. “May” being the operative word here.
College kid Dave Goodman is a con. He specializes in cheating techniques in exams. When he’s caught by the local weirdo Ethan Dulles, Ethan blackmails Dave into helping him win the affections of Angela. As Dave stalks Angela, he falls in love with her himself. Along the way there are gross-out jokes that try so hard to remind me that this movie is just another two-bit imitation of American Pie, as if I need the reminding. I will find this movie even a little watchable if this movie is at least consistent in portraying Dave as a jerk. But no, by the end of the day it has done a complete 180 on its initial stance, hitting me with a bizarre moralistic preach fest about how it’s okay to lie and deceive a girl you love as long as you tell her you are deceiving her in the name of love.
The biggest unintentional irony here though is that Jason Schwartzman is hotter than Devon Sawa can ever aspire to be, nerd shirts and all. As for Laura Prepon, I will seriously talk to her agent if I were her. Co-starring with a vibrator isn’t exactly a good way to start a career outside of That ’70s Show.
Slackers is the bastard slow-witted sibling of the now obsolete gross-out American Pie. And since American Pie is no stellar masterpiece in the first place, this one gets to be as low as low can ever get.
