Jeff Winner's You Are Here*

You Are Here* (2000) Written and Directed by Jeff Winner. Starring Todd Peters, Randall Jaynes, Ajay Naidu, Caroline Hall and Larry Fessenden.

* * (out of 4)

Ajay Naidu faced off against the copy machine in Mike Judge's tremendously funny Office Space. In an odd bit of typecasting, the same scenarios pop up in Jeff Winner's You Are Here*. Young slackers who really ought to be devoting their time to art or the enrichment of our culture find themselves stuck in dead-end day jobs having to answer to bureaucratic morons. In other words, they suffer through the nightmare most of us take for granted: the 9 to 5.

The "almost bohemian" slackers, stuffed into white shirts and black ties, desperately try to quit, only to be sold on taking more hours. The boss (played by East Village filmmaker Larry Fessenden) is a stand-in for what the young protagonists are afraid of becoming: a corporate suit whose earring is the last sign of transgression. No wonder he's got a bottle in his desk: he used to be one of these kids, now he's workin' for The Man.

The nebbishy Mr. Naidu joins the token oddball (Randall Jaynes) and his slightly detached roommate (Todd Peters, an appealing lead actor) for nights on the town as they get drunk, sing songs in hallways, pick up underage girls, and, most memorably, go to the funeral of a dead colleague. Live in the moment, ya might not have tomorrow. Winner maintains a tone that indie film connoisseurs will no doubt recognize as "slacker", meaning characters who say ironic things and complain about their lives while the slow, steady guitar music from indie record labels plays in the background (no complaints for that -- You Are Here* has a wonderfully cozy score.)

Winner has a big heart, but his film is hampered by bottom of the barrel production value and a lack of distinction from every other "me and my friends" twentysomething dramas that clamor for distribution. The cinematography and sets are dead giveaways that this is a no-budget affair, which would be fine if there were some bite. You Are Here* is like eating too many crackers -- after a while, you lose your sense of taste. It's inoffensive, but altogether too bland.

Go To Page: 1

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic