★★½ Art School Confidential

[Twinkletoes: 2.5, Gino: 2.5]

Twinkletoes says: "From the maker of the very good Ghost World and the hugely entertaining and hilarious Bad Santa comes this less satisfying film about art school. There were definitely some clever bits and some laughs to be had but the whole thing seemed to be filled with cliched characters and rather obvious humor. Oddly enough while watching it I was reminded both of the John Lovitz film High School High, and one of the Police Academy sequels. I can't quite put my finger on what it was but it just did. On that note let me just remind you all of what a great film Bad Santa is. See it if you haven't had a chance yet!"

Gino says: "This film has drastic changes in tone that were not really supported by the plot and performances. Which is a shame, because I was enjoying much of the film and its performances as a loving (but really biting) satire about art-school types and how non-art school types look to them. It was probably pitch-perfect in that respect, but hard to tell unless you are an art-school type yourself, which I'm not. [That makes for a small target audience for this.] I almost thought it would have worked better as a more "tpyical" teen comedy, only in art school instead of high school, or a more typical "thriller" about a strangler. Which is weird coming form the director of Ghost World, etc. Come to think of it, look at Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog and think about how much better he integrated the 'strangler on the loose' plot element into a comedy..."