[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slacker_movie_poster_1991.jpg]]

->''"I may live badly, but at least I don't have to work to do it."''

''Slacker'' is a 1991 experimental film by Creator/RichardLinklater.

Set and filmed in [[UsefulNotes/OtherCitiesInTexas Austin, Texas]], it depicts a wide variety of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin slackers]], paranoid conspiracy theorists, street philosophers, and other freaks and misfits as they go about their daily lives. The camera gravitates to a different group of people in every scene, giving the film a unique stream-of-consciousness style and painting a picture of the counterculture of the time. It was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress, so it must have done ''that'' right, at least.

Generally regarded as an important influence on the '90s indie film scene, specially dialog-heavy "mumblecore" movies. It was a direct influence on a then-22-year-old Creator/KevinSmith and inspired him to make [[Film/{{Clerks}} his own low-key microbudget flick]].

Differs from TheSlacker. See ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'' for the film's inspiration, and ''{{Film/Gummo}}'' for a film with a somewhat similar concept but [[CrapsackWorld very]] [[SurrealHorror different]] [[{{Squick}} execution]].
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!!''Slacker'' provides examples of:

* CoolOldGuy: The [[spoiler: fake]] UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar veteran anarchist.
* CreatorCameo: The first character is played by Richard Linklater.
* DecoyProtagonist: It starts with a bus passenger and doesn't stop.
* DefiledForever: While the implications of what led to the MadnessMantra entry are tragic, they're offset by the comic appropriateness of the last sentence coming from a WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short where a dissociative Elmer Fudd repeats the line.
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The entire film.
* HyperlinkStory: Each scene passes off to the next one via a shared shot between the characters of each.
* MadnessMantra: "You should quit, you should quit, you should quit, you should quit..."
* TheMunchausen: The Old Anarchist tells stories about fighting in the Spanish Civil War. His daughter reveals that [[spoiler: he and her mom visited Spain in 1955, about twenty years too late.]]
%%* NamelessNarrative
%%* TheNineties
%%* TheOner
%%* RandomEventsPlot
* SelfMadeOrphan: A woman near the beginning is mowed down in the street by a car driven by her son. He's [[StupidCrooks picked up almost immediately]].
* TrustMeImADoctor: "You should quit traumatizing women with sexual intercourse. I should know. I'm a medical doctor. I own a mansion and a yacht."
* VisibleBoomMic: Three times:
** During the dialog between the Ultimate Loser and Stephanie from Dallas,before the Madonna Papsmear Girl arrives, the boom mic appears briefly above them.
** Boom mic and the pole are visible at the top left of the screen when Steve finds out he's not on the guest list.
** When "GTO" drops off "True Call", the shadow of the boom mic is visible on the car as it drives past.
* WhoShotJFK: A woman who goes into a bookstore runs into a ConspiracyTheorist who recommends different books about the assassination (including ''Rush to Judgement'', the first big one to challenge the Warren Report), and he also mentions he's working on his own book on the assassination.

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