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Movies / On DVD / Art School Confidential
Art School Confidential

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Art School Confidential (2006)

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Reviews Counted:131

Fresh:47

Rotten:84

Average Rating:5.4/10

Consensus: Art School's misanthropy is too sour, its targets too flat and cliched, and Clowes and Zwigoff stumble when trying to build a story around the premise.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for language including sexual references, nudity and a scene of violence.

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:00-00-0000

Synopsis: "Art School Confidential" follows a talented young artist Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) as he escapes from high school to a tiny East Coast art school. Here the boyish freshman's ambition is to... "Art School Confidential" follows a talented young artist Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) as he escapes from high school to a tiny East Coast art school. Here the boyish freshman's ambition is to become the world's greatest artist, like his hero Picasso. Unfortunately, the beauty and craft of Jerome's portraiture are not appreciated in an anything-goes art class that he finds bewildering and bogus. Neither his harsh judgments of his classmates' efforts or his later attempts to create pseudo-art of his own win him any admirers. But Jerome does attract the attentions of his dream girl — the stunning and sophisticated Audrey (Sophia Myles) — an artist's model and daughter of a celebrated artist. Rejecting the affectations of the local art scene, Audrey is drawn to Jerome's sincerity. When Audrey shifts her attentions to Jonah (Matt Keeslar), a hunky painter who becomes the school's latest art star, Jerome is heartbroken. Desperate, he concocts a risky plan to make a name for himself and win her back. Filling out Jerome's world are a host of offbeat characters, including: a quirky art teacher (John Malkovich) who takes an extra-curricular interest in Jerome; a failed artist (Jim Broadbent), drowning in alcohol and self-pity; a regal art history professor (Anjelica Huston) Jerome tries to influence; a coffee shop owner-cum-art impresario (Steve Buscemi) swelling with self-importance; a worldly classmate (Joel David Moore), who introduces Jerome in the intricate mores of campus life; and Jerome's filmmaker roommate (Ethan Suplee), exploding with energy to create a cinematic masterpiece. United Artists and Sony Pictures Classics present Terry Zwigoff's "Art School Confidential," starring Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Matt Keeslar, Steve Buscemi and Anjelica Huston. The film is produced by Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich and Russell Smith, partners in the production company Mr. Mudd, which also produced "Ghost World." Based on Daniel Clowes' short comic story of the same name, "Art School Confidential" is directed by Zwigoff from a screenplay by Clowes. --© Sony Pictures Classics [More]

Starring: Max Minghella, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Ezra Buzzington

Starring: Max Minghella, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Ezra Buzzington, Sophia Myles, Matt Keeslar, Anjelica Huston, Steve Buscemi, Adam Scott, Nick Swardson, Paul Collins, Roxanne Hart

Director: Terry Zwigoff

Director: Terry Zwigoff
Screenwriter: Daniel Clowes
Producer: Russell Smith, Daniel Clowes
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

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Reviews for Art School Confidential

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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When you're lampooning a subculture like the art world, one that already easily lends itself to parody, hitting the target demands more -- not less -- of the satirist taking aim. And this movie settles for less and misses.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
05/05/06
E! Online
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
06/03/06
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes plod through a grouchy attack on and example of the pretense and hypocrisy of self-declared artists.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/04/06
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Zwigoff's angry exposé of this intense, tiny subculture isn't fair to anyone in the art world, but if you can stomach the overstatement, it's often scathingly funny. And it's sometimes scathingly smart.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
05/12/06
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle

Less satisfying overall than it could have been, it nonetheless boasts a sublime cynicism and just enough of a twinkle in its metaphorical eye to let most of us in on the joke

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/10/06
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Curiously, this relentlessly cynical tone turns out sounding refreshingly original compared to the usual pieties in the genre.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
07/12/06
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

Underdeveloped and tedious, "Art School Confidential" left me irritated and annoyed.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
05/15/06
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

These characters are dead-on stereotypes.

Full Review Source: Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) | comment Comment
01/25/06
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)

A movie that only a Rupert Pupkin could enjoy guilt-free

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
05/09/06
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

One half of a funny movie.

Full Review Source: Denton Record Chronicle (TX) | comment Comment
05/14/06
Boo Allen
Boo Allen
Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

Making fun of art students is like shooting Darwin fish in a barrel.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
03/24/07
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
UGO

The best elements of the film rest in Minghella's personal coming-of-age journey and in the wonky personality that the Zwigoff-Clowes collaboration brings to the screen.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
05/05/06
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Proposes to paint a black comedy, but instead has the outsize ears and lopsided, leering grin of bad caricature.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
05/11/06
Bruce Newman
Bruce Newman
San Jose Mercury News

A low-key satire of the consensual illusion of art world success, Art School Confidential deftly evokes the peculiar, funny-sad heartbreak of the aspiring genius.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/05/06
Carina Chocano
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Against this atmospheric background the characters have the depth of stick figures.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
05/11/06
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

An attempt to be great that doesn't quite have all the colors in the right place... more like a finger-painting than a Picasso.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
05/12/06
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

The movie chases its own tail, making fun of itself making fun of itself. By the end, whatever targets it had in its sights are so far off you can barely see them anymore.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
05/11/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Simply runs out of things to do once it establishes its ground rules of defining stereotypes and mocking pretension.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
05/12/06
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News

Director Terry Zwigoff presents a scathing satire of art school student existence but derails the movie, about a talented young artist (well-played by Max Minghella), with an artificial sub-plot about a campus serial killer.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/19/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

It's a ruckus, veering from one picaresque episode to the next in its eagerness to debunk Hollywood clichés and art world stereotypes, but I prefer untidy novelty to paint-by-numbers storytelling any day.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
05/11/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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Latest News for Art School Confidential

September 14, 2007: Zwigoff, Clowes to Assemble $40,000 Man
The creative duo responsible for Ghost World and Art School Confidential has found its next project. More...

August 27, 2007: Video Exclusive: Sophia Myles talks Hallam Foe with RT
We chat to the supremely lovely British actress about her latest role in David Mackenzie's new film. More...

May 14, 2006: Box Office Wrapup: "Mission: Impossible 3" Beats "Poseidon" to Remain at #1
Tom Cruise's spy sequel Mission: Impossible III remained the most popular film in North America for the second straight weekend while the big-budget disaster film Poseidon... More...

May 07, 2006: Box Office Wrapup: "Mission: Impossible III" Big, But Not Huge at #1
Tom Cruise climbed into his usual number one spot at the box office with his heavily-hyped spy sequel Mission: Impossible III, however ticket sales fell below most industry... More...

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