T, this movie isn't funny. In fact, it is nothing short of disturbing. It is uncanny to watch a young Dustin Hoffman pontificating and bemoaning the "next steps" after graduation that parallels a constant struggle in my own life. While I have chosen to keep moving forward instead of stagnating in limbo, graduate school doesn't always feel like as a big a step forward as I would like.
Watching this movie brought up a lot of bad emotions about what happens to people who thrive in school, but have no life skills. How does being a track star translate into becoming a successful, banker, butcher, baker or candlestick maker? It doesn't. The sad reality of this movie is that it reminds viewers that you can be good at some things and still fail at life.
That said, I think that the example of this particular kid is not at all the same as many who struggle with the beginnings of life after college. Self-definition is hard in this new, liminal phase, where you go from the top to the bottom. All bets are off, and there are no more rules and restrictions that limit you. You are free to do as you please, and the worst part is, no one is really judging or, really cares (except your parents and your ex-mistress).
First of all... If I ever found out T., or anyone else I dated... or was friends with... or had some kind of important personal relationship with... had some kind of strange sexual relationship with my mother, I wouldn't try to get with them. That is disturbing and didn't make any sense. Besides, what is the appeal of this guy anyway? He is a depressed lazy but who doesn't rise to the challenge of life at all. Instead of making hard decisions and progressing forward, he just stagnates in la-la land while his family and their friends shake their head in disgust. We thought you were so much better than this.
The girlfriend is perhaps the worst character. With her glassy eyes and her inability to stand up for herself, she lets the world tell her what to do and who to be. If a man shows her attention, even if that man has already slept with her mother, that is enough. And, after she runs away, after being married to another man, her new boyfriend won't even look at her? Why? Because she is a disgrace like him. There is no love or chemistry lost between them.
Benjamin had nothing else to do, so he decided to become a stalker instead of volunteering, looking for a job or picking a graduate school. Get it together, you strange freak show.
This whole film was absurd and frustrating. I hated it. I hated Benjamin, his mother-lover, and his girlfriend. It was all too much. Yucko.
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