Reviews Main / The Doom Generation

Tries too hard.

"Fuck" That's the first word muttered in this movie. There is no context to the word. It just happens. Rose Mc Goawn stares blankly into the camera, letting the audience know that she will not change her expression for the next two hours. After she mentions the word fuck, she takes a drag from her cigarette as if she had just heard the word for the first time and she was trying to find meaning behind it.

Gregg Araki, the writer/director, is just making sure that you know how edgy this movie is.

We are introduced to her boyfriend who also has the same bored disposition. They soon meet a third teenage boy and the trio proceed to wander aimlessly around the city, getting into the same scenerio multiple times: they do drugs, then they go from one neon-lit fast food or convenience store after another, eating junk food. Violence erupts in whatever establishment they're in and they have to flee. Then Rose Mc Gowan has sex with one or both of the boys.

The dialogue is ripe with such gems as "Eat my fuck" because that is a very nonsensical thing to say. How positively 90's! The violence is over the top and surreal. For instance, a man gets his head shot off and it remains alive for days, speaks, and tries to eat. It's totally like Tarentino on acid, dude! When it comes time for the next sex scene, we'll be sure to get shots of Rose Mc Gowan not giving a fuck (I just said fuck). And the best part is, as mentioned above, the same scenerio plays out over and over again. Of course, while the first time around someone could be entertained, it gets a little boring the fourth or fifth time around to the point where you are just as lifeless as the main characters. Maybe that's the purpose. Then again, I'm sure Araki was way too caught up in marveling how edgy he is to notice any deeper meaning.

And he wants you to know he's edgy too.

There is no plot other than that. Eventually, some neo-Nazi Catholic jocks find them in a field for whatever reason. What follows would be disturbing if we were made to care about any of these characters. In fact, since they don't care about each other or themselves, there's really no point. Wait, is this movie supposed to be avante-garde somehow? Maybe that... oh I'm sorry, I just got distracted by the dude eating his own cum after masturbating.

Gregg Araki wants you to know that cum-eating is edgy.