Helen Childress’ rich screenplay afforded Ryder her sharpest present-day dialogue since Heathers in the plum role of a college valedictorian whose documentary filmmaking career is entwined with the travails of her friends: wisecracking Janeane Garofalo, closeted Steve Zahn, and iconoclastic Ethan Hawke. Ben Stiller, directing his first movie, co-stars as her business-suited suitor; the cinematography is by future triple Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki.
This was my roommate’s comfort film that she showed me at a time when we both needed comforting. It was a hot summer in a small apartment, we were working jobs that we hated much like the characters in the movie, simultaneously escaping our current situation while watching it reflected back to us. -Tair, front of house staff