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Kicking and Screaming

United States

1995

96 Min
Color
1.85:1
English
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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DIR Noah Baumbach

PROD Joel Castleberg

SCR Noah Baumbach

DP Steven Bernstein

CAST Josh Hamilton, Olivia d'Abo, Chris Eigeman, Parker Posey, Carlos Jacott, Jason Wiles, Cara Buono, Elliott Gould, Eric Stoltz

ED J. Kathleen Gibson

PROD DES Dan Whifler

MUSIC Phil Marshall

New York, Stockholm (American Independents)

Synopsis

Paralyzed by postgraduation ennui, a group of college friends remain on campus, patching together a community for themselves in order to deny the real-world futures awaiting them. Academy Award–nominated screenwriter Noah Baumbach’s hilarious and touching directorial debut was one of the highlights of the American independent film scene of the nineties, speaking directly to a generation of adults-to-be unable to reconcile their hermetic educational experience with workaday responsibility, and posing the eternal question, where do we go from here? Stingingly funny and incisive, Baumbach’s breakthrough features endlessly quotable dialogue, delivered by a stellar ensemble cast. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Noah Baumbach

Baumbach made his writing and directing debut at the age of 26 with Kicking and Screaming (1995), a comedy about four young men who graduate from college and refuse to move on with their lives. The film starred Josh Hamilton, Chris Eigeman, and Carlos Jacott and premiered in 1995 at the New York Film Festival. Baumbach was chosen as one of Newsweek ’s “Ten New Faces of 1996”.

In 1997 he wrote and directed Mr. Jealousy, a film about a young writer so jealous about his girlfriend that he sneaks into the group therapy sessions of her ex-boyfriend to discover what kind of relationship they had. He then co-wrote (under the name Jesse Carter) and directed (under the name Ernie Fusco) the New York-set comedy of manners Highball. He co-wrote The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) with Wes Anderson.

His 2005 film The Squid and the Whale was a semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about his childhood in Brooklyn and the effect… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 10 wall posts.
Picture of JP. Schmidt

JP. Schmidt

1Aug11

Moments of banter and wit ... I, as assumed the target audience is meant to, do draw some personal connection and relation.

Picture of FailedImitator

FailedImitator

9Dec10

Metropolitan directed by Lite-Stillman. Had its moments, but I didn't like it very much. Forced and inorganic.

Picture of Gran-Hoff

Gran-Hoff

13Sep10

I agree, it sounds a little forced sometimes. When it works, it's interesting though

Picture of StellaWasaDiver

StellaWasaDiver

31Aug10

I'm sure a lot of these lines read well, but when you actually hear someone speak them aloud, it sounds a bit forced. Chris Eigeman helped to save the film. "I've gotta go bang this freshman."

Related Films

Fans

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Lists

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Reviews

Displaying 3 of 3

Untitled

By Jimmy Cline on August 14, 2009

It’s ironic that so many fans of Wes Anderson find the films of Whit Stillman, Noah Baumbach, and Hal Hartley, to be made in poor taste. The common complaints really are ones that should be lobbed…  read review

Untitled

By Christo​pher Smith on May 15, 2009

Indie comedy from writer-director Noah Baumbach has a lot of great, clever dialogue, and effectively creates an atmosphere of post-grad desperation – but the characters and story are just not compelling…  read review

Untitled

By jill on February 19, 2009

“you should get your nose pierced, but right through the middle, like a tribal look.” “Yeah i’m probably going to.”
i loooooooooove this movie. i wish noah baumbach would go back to making films…  read review

Forum

Displaying 1 discussion topic.

Kicking and Screaming---Whit Stillman rip-off?

10 posts by 8 people over 1 year ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.