Slackers / Zero Stars (2002)

The success of comedy ultimately depends on a movie's ability to find a core audience, but if most moviegoers have any kind of stable brain function, they'll make sure they don't become part of the warped, dimwitted circle of viewers who have been targeted for "Slackers," the latest in a never-ending series of teen gross-out comedies executed with the emphasis on perverted sexual antics. Lowering the bar of bad taste to a level achieved previously only by Tom Green with "Freddy Got Fingered," the movie is nasty, reprehensible, shallow and lazy, pulling off its material in a manner that results not in laughs, but in groans of agony. And the movie's not even bright enough to at least see the potential of a sense of humor amidst all its meandering. Its only interest is in grossing us out, simply for the sake of being gross.

Oscars 2002: Nominee Predictions

February 8, 2002

Imagine what goes through the mind of an Academy member during the first few weeks of the new year.

He or she is required to process the last 12 months of movie releases in order to coherently fill out their ballots for the upcoming Academy Award nominations, a feat that can be rather difficult if the prior year was a cinematically potent one. Just what do they think of the material released in 2001, though? Are the best movie choices clear? Is there a lack of decent material to nominate? And what will they remember (or forget) when it comes time to turn in their final ballots?