Slackers (2002) – Nostalgia Central

Not to be confused with Richard Linklater’s Slacker (1990), a marvellous and highly original movie, this Slackers is yak sweat.

It’s set in a university where three young men – Dave (Devon Sawa), Sam (Jason Segel) and Jeff (Michael Maronna) – are scamming their way to degrees. Rather than doing the work required for credit, they devise elaborate scams to get grades without doing the work.

The three are about to graduate when a nerd named Ethan (Jason Schwartzman) discovers their scams and threatens to expose them if they don’t help him win the heart (although the heart isn’t really what he’s after) of Angela (James King), a nice girl on campus.

It is difficult to tell the good guys from the bad guys in this film, if anyone wants to try.

The good guys are represented by the three scam artists who are cheats, louts and drug users. The only thing that makes the bad guy “bad” is that this nerd is portrayed as psychotic.

The characters pass plenty of gas and make jokes about the male sex organ, as you might expect.

But Slackers adds a new wrinkle, if you will pardon the pun, by having 71-year-old Mamie Van Doren, a sexpot actress from the 1950s, do a nude scene in which the bad-guy nerd gets naughty.

Director Dewey Nicks tried to add some interest with some fantasy scenes, but they are so repulsive they only detract.

Dave Goodman
Devon Sawa
Sam Schechter
Jason Segel
Jeff Davis
Michael Maronna
Ethan Dulles
Jason Schwartzman
Angela Patton
James King
Reanna
Laura Prepon
Airborne Express Driver
Travis Davis
Head T.A. Philip
Jim Rash
Karl
Nat Faxon
Professor Markoe
Don Michaelson
Bruna
Retta
Singing Waitress
Marilyn Staley
Singing Waiter
Jason Garner
Japanese Proctor
Gedde Watanabe
Hot Twins
Heidi Kramer
Alissa Kramer
Economics Professor
Michael McDonald
Astronomy Professor
Charles Dougherty
The Gimp
Robert B. Martin Jr.
Long-Haired Hobo
Michael Swiney
Shelley
Shelley Dowdy
Barry
Jonathan Kasdan
Philip
J.P. Coe
Doctor
Howard Mungo
Nurse
Joanna Sanchez
Charles Patton
Sam Anderson
Valerie Patton
Leigh Taylor-Young
Cameron Diaz
Herself
Dave’s Mom
Kim Stanwood
Mr Leonard
Joe Flaherty
Mrs Van Graaf
Mamie Van Doren

Director
Dewey Nicks