The Doom Generation

Directed by Gregg Araki

I don’t even know why I’m bothering to acknowledge the existence of this film. I thought that if I just ignored it I could at least be thought of as not endorsing it at all, but no, I really need to get up on my soapbox about this one. This is swill. This is the most vile, mean-spirited, heartless, unerotic, homophobic, cowardly piece of trash to come down the pike in a long while. I think the thing that really offends me the most about garbage like this is that there is not ONE STITCH of a plot. AT ALL. How does spew like this get money from backers? All the script (and I use that term loosely) consists of is a litany of slang and swearing where each character tries to top each other with how clever their put-downs can be. The audience this film is pitched to is the guy in fourth grade who comes up to you and tells you that his older brother and sister slept with each other the night before. All you have are three bored kids going from mini mart to motel to burger joint to motel. Unspeakable things happen to the characters. And why? Well, like, just because it’s, like, rilly, rilly cool and stuff. No doubt. Gnarly action. Wicked biscuits. The press kit has some BS about this being the logical extension in the tradition of "rebellious" films like Rebel Without A Cause and Badlands. Absolute bollocks. After this is over all you want to do is have a shower, curl up in front of the TV set with a blankey and watch Barney, and I NEVER thought I’d say that. All I know about Gregg Araki, the idiot behind this mess, is that he’s 25, gay, and that The Doom Generation is his "heterosexual" film. If this is his "statement" on heterosexual relations in the 90’s, I really wonder if he knows any straight people at all. These aren’t characters, they’re not even caricatures: they’re big neon signs saying White Trash. What’s his point? He doesn’t have one. What he’s created is pornography. There is no difference between this film and your average anonymous X-rated video down at the Champ Arcade: Nothing but sex; no plot; no acting talent (with the possible exception of Rose McGowan, but she’s surrounded by so much drek that I’d have to see her in something else to really be able to evaluate her acting skills.) It’s funny, because the only people I know who really get off on White Trash Road Movies like this are from suburban backgrounds so poisoned with protection that they actually believe that films like these are hip and exciting. And from the looks of it, my bet is that Gregg Araki has been working behind the counter at a Hello Kitty! since before he was toilet trained.