"Reality Bites" vs. "Singles"

Reality Bites. Singles was just embarrassing.

Winona Ryder is an icon. Movies featuring icons tend to hold up.

I haven't seen either, and I can't imagine Ben Stiller making a good movie, but Cameron Crowe is a terrible filmmaker.

But "Reality Bites" has the detestable Ethan Hawke in it!

And everyone is so dirty and unwashed.

I have to to with "Singles" for all of the above, plus because it stars the then-adorable Campbell Scott.

Definitely not Singles. everyone in it is my age now and I can't imagine running around now pretending I'm the shit in some dumpy logging town.

Living in Houston, I think it's interesting to see the neighborhoods in Houston used for exterior shots in Reality Bites that have been completely transformed by gentrification since the early 90s. All those old, run-down apartments on Clay St. used in the movie were replaced by condos and lofts years ago. But yeah, in the 80s and 90s that North Montrose neighborhood was slacker central. I was one of them.

Isn't there a better choice? Both were boring and made all of the actors as unattractive as possible (though it didn't take much with Ethan Hawke). %0D %0D Both of them kind of flopped, right? The target audience didn't bother to go.

Didn't Reality Bites take place in Austin?

The early 90s were definitely a "moment."

Anyone who wasn't in their early twenties at the time would find the whole era weird.

Maybe it was.

The characters in "Reality Bites" are 21 or 22. The characters in "Singles" are in their mid- to late- twenties.

So the characters are going to be quite different. A lot of change happens b/w early twenties and late twenties.

Nope, Houston.

At the beginning of Reality Bites, there's a brief scene of Winona Ryder giving a commencement address(?) in Rice Stadium. Though not named, I think the implication was that they were Rice students.

One of my first MALE celebrity crushes was Ethan Hawke. I was a young kid (12 years old) who was just starting to feel an attraction for men when "Reality Bites" came out. I thought he was pretty damn gorgeous...

For pure entertainment value I'd go with Reality Bites. It stands up better as a movie I think. Singles was is kind of annoying on rewatch.

Reality Bites without a question

LOL r10, I've probably watched the film 15 times and always thought it was Austin.

I thought he was gorgeous too R12. Not anymore however...

"Reality Bites" is about southern slackers. "Singles" is about PNW slackers.

Two very different breeds. Southern slackers are more eccentric, funny, and fun.

PNW slackers are absolutely humorless, though no less stinky.

Reality Bites does have the obnoxious hipster Janeane Garofalo in it.

[quote]I've probably watched the film 15 times and always thought it was Austin.

You know the scene when they're on the roof of the skyscraper downtown? Austin doesn't have skyscrapers like that. Otherwise, it could have totally been about UT students rather than Rice.

We're going to eat gas!

Was "Singles" really about slackers? I can't remember, but I thought several of the characters were young careerists.

Empire Records defined my 90s

You can't kill me because I'm already dead. And i talked to God and she said, "Yo, what's up?" And she wants you to lose the gun.

[quote]Was "Singles" really about slackers?

It was about grunge culture, not really the same thing as slacker culture.

Dazed and Confused was was set in Austin; maybe that's where this confusion is coming from.

Isn't Richard Linklater's "Slacker" set in Austin? And then there are the Jersey slackers of Kevin Smith's "Clerks."

bump

I feel like I'm on Melrose Place and look I'm the HIV /AIDS character. Everyone wants to be nice to me. Everyone touches me.

And then I die. And then there's everyone at my funeral in halter tops and chokers or some shit.

Singles was a Cameron Crowe project, which makes it instantly opportunistic, false, and sugar coated.

"Singles" was the Hollywood version of what the "MTV" crowd was into. Reality Bites was the MTV version of the MTV crowd. I can't even begin to explain how 1993 MTV differs from 2010 MTV. You just had to be there.

I hated reality bites. It was so damn pretentious and everyone was a goddamn slacker and looked like they smelled. Very dislikable characters.%0D %0D Singles had Pearl Jam, Chris Cornell and Alice in Chains in it. And it had songs from Mother Love Bone, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Jimi Hendrix... So NO question, Singles was MUCH better.

R30 proved my point.

Welcome to the maxi pad.

OK so I can't define "irony" but I know it when I see it!

Because I'm not retarded, mom; I graduated valedictorian of my university.

A friendof mine and I would act out the PFLAG skit from Reality Bites. I still love JG for it.

Best scene in "Reality Bites" is Janeane Garofalo smacking down Winona verbally for continually mocking her promotion to a highher level at 'The Gap". Twenty years later, most slackers/hipsters sans trust fund would probably jump at the chance to work there in any capacity in these jobless times.

Are you religious?

Related question: are hipsters the new slackers?

Not really. It's a generational thing. Slackers were well, slackers, coming of age at a time when there just weren't as many opportunities as earlier generations and thus the bar is set much lower for them and getting a job at Gap or a bookstore is okay. Or staying in college until you're 30 isn't a sign of failure.

Hipsters are entitled in the sense that they think the world owes them something.

Slackers are probably the inheritors of the hippie generation while Hipsters are more parallel to Prepsters.

Jeanine Garafolo's character is the reason why I keep a list of every guy I've ever hooked up with.

I would have liked "Reality Bites" more if it hadn't starred Ethan Hawke. He is so incredibly unlikeable. His character (Troy) is thoroughly unlikeable.

But who would have been better in the role? I'm at a loss to think of male actors in their 20s in the early 90s who would have done a better job.

Not Keanu (too stupid, though he would have been pretty too look at.)

Robert Sean Leonard is too likeable for the role. Maybe he would have been interesting, though.

Ben Stiller was perfectly cast as a dickhead, though.

Hipsters also strike me as very materialistic. Slackers weren't (and couldn't afford to be!)

Hipsters also have a sense of superiority to them- everything they wear, listen or do is going to be imminently popular amongst the plebes.

"Singles" made numerous references to the location; the film made a conscious effort to establish itself in Wash. %0D %0D I can't remember anybody in "Reality Bites" actually saying what city they were in, but I do remember it was filmed in Houston because I lived there at the time.

Singles just for the music.

I miss Lane Staley.

Besides, 'Melrose Place' is a really good show.

Both are terrible movies. "Singles" is totally embarrassing and inauthentic. I remember endless shots of coffee beans being scooped, coffee being poured. Because this is Seattle! People drink coffee in Seattle! I saw "Reality Bites" at a theatre in Rome. It was baffling to my Italian friends. Why would these kids live in that disgusting, run down house and not with their parents?

That's one thing the "Reality Bites" characters got right, R47.

Young adults should being willing to sacrifice for their independence.

Although I think young people today are content to live in their parents' (no doubt comfy, 5-bedroom) house after college. I see that and I think, "what losers." But I understand it isn't frowned upon anymore.

I thought Reality Bites was quite good. The kind of movie I usually disliked, but it had something more than the usual film of this type.%0D %0D Best bits, dancing in the 7/11. The scene where Winona's boss is bitching about her and she overhears.%0D %0D Never saw Singles. Thought I'd hate it.%0D %0D I guess Melissa's boyfriend, Lee, played by Corey Parker represented the same generation in thirtysomething. %0D %0D (What happened to Corey Parker? He was a good actor).

Corey Parker should have been gay & my boyfriend in the early 90s.

Oh, who told you that? Your psychic friend?

On the wikipedia page for 'Singles', it says that Kurt Cobain hated the movie.

I you google Corey Parker you get tons of pics of some football player. Imagine two people with that name?... and what a drag to be an actor and have someone with the same name turn up and eclipse you.

I was a teenager in the early 90%E2%80%99s and while I was a grunge kid, I hated Singles. I found it incredibly fake.%0D %0D Reality bites did capture the confusion some young adults feel. I think it holds much better.%0D

You look like a doily.

I was in my early twenties in the early nineties - the exact target audience for both those films. I loved Reality Bites, and thought Singles was boring and stupid.

Without a doubt, "Reality Bites." Janeane Garafolo MADE that movie.

I still think she's the coolest person on Earth.

Is Rice University supposed to be a good school?

I thought the characters were supposed to have graduated from the University of Texas at Houston.

[quote]Although I think young people today are content to live in their parents' (no doubt comfy, 5-bedroom) house after college.

Oh my God, we've become Italians!

R58, yes, Rice is a very good school. Smart engineering kids. Is there a University of Texas at Houston?

I wipe back to front.

There is no UT Houston and there are no 7-Elevens there also. They danced at a Shell station.

They were both pretty bad. I live in Seattle and still go by the "Singles" apartment building every once in a while.

I was living here as a 20 something when it came out - it basically boiled down the experience to the symbols (coffee! grunge dude!).

Am I allowed to love both of them ... because I do.%0D %0D Like someone above posted. One deals with out of college group and the other with late 20s.%0D %0D

Is there a University of Houston?

There is a UT-Houston, actually: it's the medical school and the school of public health.

The University of Houston, with four campuses around the metro area. It's the main public university system in the Houston area. The Reality Bites kids would not be UH students, LOL.

Rice is a private research university attracting more academically-minded students.

The Rice endowment has lost a bitl of its value since the financial crisis a few years ago. The university has had to drop a lot of degree programs, largely graduate programs in the humanities. Before then, though, it was always in the top ten; nowadays, maybe in the top twenty.

I was in my early 20s when they both came out and a "slacker". I thought they both sucked at the time and were inauthentic.

I have watched both, Singles still sucks (although there is good music in it), Reality Bites has aged a bit better but it is not very good.

bump

the best part of Singles was the theme song.

Reality Bites ah....a classic. (if you were the right age in 1993)

"What are you goals? A career or something."

"You are in The Bell Jar, honey"

"Define irony."

I love the Reality Bites spoof of Cindy Craford's MTV show

"These Donna Karan bandanas are red for Bloods, blue for Crips, and only cost $65!"

"I don't have a lawyer, I don't have a dentist!"

I'm late for a jean-folding seminar. Let's locomote! %0D %0D %0D

Just saw reality bites a few months ago. I was about their age when it came out and was living with 4 other highly educated waiters/stock boys. I think it aged well, had some classic lines and was surprised at how hot I found Ethan Hawk.

Singles, the Kara Sedgwick/the guy who's name I can't remember but her "boyfriend" relationship was so annoying and the characters so whiney they made me want to slap them. I didn't like Bridget Fonda's character but liked her as an actress. What happened to her?

Bridget Fonda was in a car accident, married Danny Elfman, became a mom and quit working.

To add another wrinkle to the debate, I submit that "Reality Bites" was actually about slackers, but "Singles" was about proto-hipsters.

The characters in "Singles"-- if they were 20-something today-- would be hipsters.

As already noted, hipsters are very different from slackers.

As much as the boomers cried and gnashed their teeth about how awful slackers were, slackers did contribute some good things to our culture-- namely, a distaste for materialism, a sense of community, and a willingness to pay their dues until they figured shit out.

I was a slacker then, and I have a lot of trouble understanding 20-somethings today and their wanting everything now, now, now and their unwillingness to sacrifice the slightest bit of comfort.

I actually think this is what's behind the resurgence of young women wanting to be nothing more than housewives and brood mares. It's the easiest way for a 20-something woman to immediately get the big house and the nice car.

[quote]And everyone is so dirty and unwashed%0D %0D And, Matt couldn't look any more horrible in "Singles" with that icky long hair.

I love "Reality Bites" have the DVD and Laserdisc (well, I actually gave it to a hot blonde friend of mine). My favorite scene was the gas station, when everyone dances to "My Sharona".

"The Reality Bites kids would not be UH students, LOL."

Why would the Reality Bites kids not be UH students? They didn't seem all that gifted or bright.

I agree with R68. I remember walking out of the movie theater in Reality Bites cuz I thought it was so bad and I was so tired of hearing about slackers at that point. I was 23 and living in NYC.

Singles was 3 1/2 years before that - it was shot in 90 and completed in early 91. A lot of things changed in those 3-4 years. Singles was about young adults who would have graduated in the late 80's - so it was definitely more career oriented. They weren't recent college grads like Reality Bites.

I could relate to Reality Bites because of the lack of jobs in the early 90's, but their attitudes just sucked all around.

The Reality Bites students weren't snooty and tedious enough to be Rice students.

While I do realize it was filmed in Houston, the kids seemed much more like the products of a large state school in a college town. Eg, UT Austin, UGA in Athens, or Univ. of Colorado in Boulder.

I was 13 when Reality Bites came out and we all thought it was SO REAL.

I also though the reign of actual (non-studio) indies starring people like Parker Posey and Lili Taylor and Jennifer Jason Leigh was gonna last....

Reality Bites was so much better. Winona was amazing in it.

Loved Reality Bites. Hated Matt Dillon's long hair in Singles, it was very distracting.

Winona Ryder was enjoyable in Reality Bites, even though the movie sucked.

Every single person was awful in Singles, plus the movie not only sucked, it was smug and hateful.

I thought "Reality Bites" had the best one-liners. The cast was great, and the "My Sharona" scene was brilliant. Great soundtrack too!

"Singles" was kind of boring.

REALITY BITES!!

And yeah, Ethan was hot in it...

Ethan Hawke and his dead, grey baby teeth are disgusting.

Just watched REALITY BITES for the first time since it came up. I still don't like it. They all whine so much. Winona was pretty though. Reading the thread, everyone keeps referring to the 'My Sharona' scene as the best in the film. That's hardly an endorsement. That's like saying the lip-syncing Motown into a hairbrush scene is the best thing about STEPMOM. Lip synching scenes have always been the cheapest, easiest way to distract from a lack of ideas.

I was 13 when it came out. I loved it. JG going to get her HIV test was brilliant. Way before the net and DVRs, when I had insomnia in my first years in college, my roommate and I would watch RB over and over.

I haven't seen either one since the 90s so can't say which would hold up. I related to both.

I thought Natalie Portman stole Singles though. I walked out of that movie saying that the little neighbor girl was going to be a star.

I really thought I was going to be something by the time I was 23.

I was 18 and just out of high school when Reality Bites came out so I can't really view it objectively, because there's too much nostalgia involved. I cannot believe it's been almost 20 years. I agree that Janeane Garofalo made that movie - she was the best thing in it. My favorite part was the PFLAG rehearsal with Janeane playing the part of whatsisnames mother. Her "oh, christ" was perfectly delivered.

Janeane Garofalo is synomymous with the 1990s to me. She was fucking EVERYWHERE in that decade. And then as soon as the 2000s started she became so low-profile and was basically off the cultural radar.

I can't remember Singles.

Janeane was in several things in the 2000s, including West Wing. She got skinny and went blonde. She looked better chubby.

R90, you're thinking of Beautiful Girls, where Portman played the neighbor. I really enjoyed that film, it wasn't a masterpiece, but it was solid and a pretty good portrayal of post-high school in a small town. And you're right about Portman, her performance in that was fantastic, and it really made you understand why Timothy Hutton's character could have a sort-of crush on her. What could have come off as creepy actually turned into something sweet.

My Sharona scene

[quote]One of my first MALE celebrity crushes was Ethan Hawke. I was a young kid (12 years old) who was just starting to feel an attraction for men when "Reality Bites" came out. I thought he was pretty damn gorgeous...

Me too but it was when I saw White Fang.

Melrose Place is a really good show.

hehe

MP is wonderful guilty pleasure show.

Reality Bites is hilarious. Every scene with Ben Stiller is insufferable, however.

Cameron Crowe must have thought he was ahead of the curve by setting "Singles" in Seattle, but by the time it came out everyone was sick of Seattle and its music scene.

I had shingles once it really hurts. But at least it isn't the AIDS

How come I'm the only one to say that I thought Steve Zahn was cute in this? (maybe it's because he has such a bad, unmemorable name. I had to go to imdb to find it). Also, wasn't his character supposed to be gay?...another reason why I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned.

He looks a bit thin and cross now in the imdb pics. But back then he was a chubby and smiley with a nice big round ass.

The original script of Reality Bites focused a lot more on Garofalo's and Zahn's characters, but once Ben Stiller signed on as co-producer (or whatever he was) he beefed up the plotline between him and Winona. Huge mistake, IMHO. I could've watched Janeane Garofalo for the entire movie. The Stiller/Ryder scenes got a bit tedious, but I still liked the movie.

How could R87, say Ethan Hawke was hot in this and link to a pic of him wearing that disgusting shirt, which I think he wears for most of the film?

R105, he was hot in this.

Did Stiller and Garafeollo have a bit of tension during shooting? I remember something about him telling her to do something and she said Im not gonna do that, and he said ok youre done for the day.

Anyways, JG was awesome in this.

Stiller fired Janeane shortly before production began, and Winona Ryder went to bat for her and changed Stiller's mind. I have never heard a single good thing about Ben Stiller - he seems to be a complete prick and a spoiled brat.

Weren't they fucking for a while during his sketch show?

I thought Bridget Fonda was going to be a big star. I loved her in Singles.

I think I've watched Point of No Return about fifty times. It never gets any better.

Reality Bites is St. Elmo's Fire part 2

Jeaneane folds a shirt at the Gap:

"Oh, look at that. People don't know. They don't know what it takes."

LOL.

I enjoy Reality Bites, was a freshman in high school when it came out and thought that is what college/post college life would be like and that it didn't seem too bad. Fun little movie, Winona and Garafalo are great.

Singles is unfocused and more late 80s than early 90s IMO. Slackers would never be into boob jobs like Fonda's character.

"The old manager tried to kill herself by eating a whole pot of poinsettias."

"Why can't I get just one kiss? Why can't I get just one fuck?"

Winona is a horrible actress.

"Reality Bites" is definitely the more remembered and quoted film. If you bring up the Melrose Place speech or dancing to My Sharona to people aged 25-40 many will know the reference. "Singles", not so much. I'm surprised to see it brought up here, actually.

Funny though, usually these kinds of threads make me want to see the movie concerned, again...but I have no desire to re-experience Reality Bites, however cute.

[quote]To add another wrinkle to the debate, I submit that "Reality Bites" was actually about slackers, but "Singles" was about proto-hipsters.

This is why "Singles" seems less dated to me. There seems to be less living in squalor, a badge of honor in the '90s. The people in "Singles" didn't deny themselves boob jobs and nice cars, if they so wanted. Debbie goes to Expect the Best to find her dream man/meal ticket. It's definitely the egocentric attitude popular now.

Not that either is very good. Still, they're a guilty pleasure for me since I was the right age when they came out.

I prefer "Empire Records," just for this song (which is one of the great underrated pop songs, IMO).

But the video is the 90'est thing that ever 90'ed.

I totally forget the Melrose Place reference.

Reality Bites was OK, but I thought both Ethan and Ben were kind of dicks, and she should've just moved on.

[quote] once Ben Stiller signed on as co-producer (or whatever he was)

The director o_O

[quote]Stiller fired Janeane shortly before production began, and Winona Ryder went to bat for her and changed Stiller's mind. I have never heard a single good thing about Ben Stiller - he seems to be a complete prick and a spoiled brat.

That's a lie. He was the ONLY reason she was even hired, and they were friends since doing his MTV show together.

He should have fired himself from the movie. He's the weak link in a great movie that would have been better if he'd stayed behind the camera.

The only good thing about either movie is Pearl Jam.

"A compliment for us, is a compliment for you."

[quote]Before filming began, however, Garofalo was fired from the production because Stiller did not like her attitude during rehearsal. Garofalo was rehired after Ryder stepped in on her behalf. Garofalo stated later that she has a really poor work ethic and hates to rehearse.

"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet." - Abraham Lincoln

"Reality Bites" and Shingles both cause misery and suffering. In the one case there is restless itching, a desire to get away from your own body, and a desire for medical relief or death. And the disease is very similar.

I thought both movies were entertaining.

Reality Bits is such a time capsule now, and Ben Stiller was in it too much, but it's still enjoyable.

I cannot imagine recent college grads today living in squalor like these kids did 20 years ago; after college they all move back to their parents' McMansions or have their parents pay their rent on nice apartments because they can't stand to sacrifice for a few years.

Amazing how the culture has shifted since the 1990s.

R127, do you know anyone under 65?

both were great, just really different.

the ultimate 90s slacker movie is "Slacker" its on netflix.

Kurt Cobain despised Singles. Didn't see Reality Bites.

love Reality Bites! I just rented it on demand because of this thread

Reality Bites is now 20 years old.

Reality Bites was the better film, by far.

Here's an "oral history" of Reality Bites from last week, in honour of its anniversary. Maybe I'm reading to much into it, but I felt like Ethan Hawke & Steve Zahn were subtly dissing Ben Stiller as a director...

Winona's character worked for a TV morning show. The host was obnoxious, and Winona played a prank on him, causing her to get fired. Was the host based on Regis?

Singles was/is much better. I also prefer Singles to Almost Famous.

Music has always been the most important thing to me, so "Singles" is superior to "Bites". Like someone already pointed out, it had Alice in Chains, Jimi Hendrix, Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam in it. And members of Pearl Jam even made appearances.

I disliked Reality Bites. I could smell the characters' body odour even in the movie theatre.

Just to bring up some other films--

I feel like Empire Records is the kind of film that you'd like as a teenager but that doens't hold up once you're older.

Has anyone seen the much-more-out-of-left-field Richard Linklater film 'Slacker'(1990), or for that matter his later film 'SubUrbia'?

And will some please tell me they remember a film called...I think 'S.F.W.', about some Gen X type who survives a hostage situation or something?

I really want to like Winona but she is probably the worst actress to star in mainstream movies.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

Thanks for that link R134. I really enjoyed reading that.

R139 - Winona is a very good and genuine actress. Whatever flaws Reality Bites has are not from her acting.

[quote]Music has always been the most important thing to me, so "Singles" is superior to "Bites".

That's why I liked "Bites" better. I wasn't into grunge at all but enjoyed hearing the tracks from Squeeze, Neil Finn, even My Sharona because I grew up with that stuff.

Winona's reading of the line "You got it" squinches my sphinters.

R138 - I loved 'Slacker' but it is very different from the other movies mentioned.

There was a movie called S.F.W. which I saw but barely remember - I think it was not very good.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

"Singles" by far. Cameron Crowe, Bridget Fonda. The TV spot that ran so often on MTV with doofus Matt Dillon clicking on his car stereo and shattering his window - scene which wasn't in the film.

Seattle just before the Hype!.

It's a time capsule of my young days, of the last few moments before AOL and cellphones. Just seeing the old-fashioned on-screen cable guide is nostalgic.

I miss a lot about that moment in time.

Steve zahn is hot as hell

Reality Bites. It had humor and heart. Singles reeked of cynicism.

And I love the scene of them in the store dancing to My Sharona.

Shingles is better. I love it.

Another vote for Reality Bites

if you like the grunge movement move on it did !

Noni was stunning in Reality Bites.

Singles has Bridget Fonda.

When Reality Bites came out in 1994, I remember thinking how great it was that they included My Sharona on the soundtrack because it was a great "oldie".

What blows my mind is that My Sharona was only 15 years old when Reality Bites was released. And that was 20 years ago. Maybe it's a result of my age, but it feels like the amount of time between Sharona (1979) and RB (1994) was so much longer than the time between RB and today.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

The culture changed more from 1979 to 1994 than since 1994.

r3 Cameron crowe is a great filmmaker. Jerry Maguire and almost famous hit on so many different levels.

Thus thread is older than I am.

What's your glitch??

Reality Bites is a classic. Singles was boring and made for the generation right before. It's a little too 80s for me.

It is nice to look back and see people looking more natural in a movie.

I love how Winona says Troy would never get hired at Whole Foods.

I also love her family, especially the stepdad.

What would the 40 year-old Gen X movie be?

There was a time when I could quote half of RB. I'm a good decade younger than the actors, but I fucking loved that movie.

The one thing that really annoyed me about Reality Bites was how they sat around listening to Frampton Comes Alive. That was way too early for Gen-X.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

I just watched Singles for the first time. It's not high art but I loved it. I was only 10 when it came out. I wish I had been a little bit older during the good part of the 90s. By the time I reached my mid teens everything was terrible.

I just watched "Reality Bites" last night--and I have more questions than answers!

What exactly was the nature of Ethan Hawke's appeal, and to whom? He's sullen, not cute, and he looks like he smells.

More than that, his character may be the least appealing romantic lead in the history of American film. When he's not being aggressively rude to Winona Ryder's character, he's busy explaining her needs and feelings to her. (Not that Nonnie is giving much of a performance, either.) Some people would call it "mansplaining."

Besides their ugly clothes and haircuts, what are these young people all so hostile about? Why not find less shitty jobs, or move somewhere less shitty than Houston, TX?

Why does every pop culture reference (My Sharona, Good Times) make them freak out?

[quote] Why would these kids live in that disgusting, run down house and not with their parents?

Because in Canada and the U.S. there is a "get rid of my kids asap" culture.

I saw them both back in the day. I didn't like Reality Bites. I did like Singles. I didn't really like anybody in RB. I did like Bridget Fonda's character in Singles. And Eddie Vedder was in it.

R166 here. I like early 90s music and was hoping that REALITY BITES would be bursting with sounds from 1994. But no.

The soundtrack is actually really disappointing. What claim do these 20-somethings have to MY SHARONA, a song from 1979? Or DISCO INFERNO? I get that they would love the Schoolhouse Rock songs from their childhood (even though I question the dates on those). Just as they would have been too young to appreciate a Charlie's Angels lunchbox or GOOD TIMES or any number of other cultural references.

It's not just meaningless: it's inaccurate and sloppy.

Singles has a definite "breeder" sensibility, that was a turn off for a gay like me.

Every time I sneeze, it's like I'm four sneezes away from the hospice. And it's like it's not even happening to me. It's like I'm watching it on some crappy show like Melrose Place or some shit, right? And I'm the new character, I'm the AIDS character, and I live in the building and I teach everybody that it's OK to be near me, it's OK to talk to me, and then I die. And there's everybody at my funeral wearing halter tops or chokers or some shit like that.

R169 I am exactly Winona Ryder's age and I love Charlie's Angels and Good Times-favorites of mine as a kid. Nothing sloppy about the references at all. In fact, I had a Charlie's Angels carrying case as a kid and still have it and took it to college with me in the early 90s.

Here's the gang now-they all look ok but Lisa Loeb looks fantastic.

Singles was too "themey" "we're at the coffee house!" 'We're at a grunge show!" "We're trying video dating!"

Reality Bites holds up much better. Yes, it's comfort food for some of us (I'm 41), but it just made sense in a way. I'm also critical of Troy though. Very immature, rude, jerky. He was only moderately better than Michael.