Reality Bites

A 1994 romantic Dramedy/Coming of Age saga of four disaffected twentysomething friends from Houston trying to assess the direction of their aimless lives. Winona Ryder stars as Lelaina, a recent college graduate with big dreams of becoming a successful videographer. She shares an apartment with Grunge-rocking slacker Troy (Ethan Hawke), Vickie (Janeane Garofalo), a promiscuous Gap-managing snarker, and Sammy (Steve Zahn), a guy struggling with coming out to his parents, who are facing similar uncertain crossroads in their lives. Leilana meets and dates Michael (Ben Stiller), a yuppie who works for an MTV-like television station.

The film is frequently cited by reviewers as a Generation X parable.

Tropes included:
""Miss Pierce, do you have any idea what it means to be a cashier at Wiener Schnitzel?""
 * Betty and Veronica: Troy and Michael, for Lelaina.
 * Burger Fool: David Spade's One Scene Wonder.


 * But Not Too Gay: Sammy's first boyfriend Lance is introduced to Lelaina, but not even shown onscreen because Lelaina is too concerned with where Troy is.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Vickie.
 * Dude Not Ironic: Lelaina's inability to define irony cost her a job.
 * Foot Focus: A prolonged closeup of Winona Ryder's bare feet.
 * Lowest Common Denominator: In Universe, Michael's.
 * Pet Homosexual: Sammy.
 * Production Posse: A Ben Stiller film, so his parents and then-girlfriend Janeane Garofalo and make appearances.
 * Really Gets Around: Both Troy and Vickie.
 * Romantic Runner Up: Michael's MTVization of Lelaina's documentary does not go over well.
 * Take That: To MTV and The Real World.
 * The Cast Showoff: Ethan Hawke plays guitar and sings "I'm Nothin'".
 * The Nineties: SO much.
 * The Slacker: Troy.
 * Stylistic Suck: The Show Within a Show at the end of the film, based loosely on the events the characters experienced in the movie.
 * Throwing Out the Script: Lelaina pretends to do this -- actually, she's lost her notes and is just reciting platitudes.
 * Wrong Guy First