the reality of "reality bites."

my best friend and i both decided to re-watch the movie "reality bites." i don't know WHY this particular movie inspired my first actually WRITTEN blog in a VERY long time, but it did. so. as i'm watching certain clips, i'm thinking to myself how incredibly romantic ethan hawke is. i mean, he's irresistibly beautiful, right? he's charming. he's smart. he's adorable. he's got it all. meanwhile, ben stiller, who isn't nearly as attractive, fumbles around the entire movie, trying to win winona ryder's attention. let's be honest...what woman said to herself, "man, i hope she ends up with ben stiller." not this woman. that's for sure.

so, as i'm watching it, i watch ethan hawke use multiple girls. he mocks wynona ryder. he mocks ben stiller. he smokes massive amounts of weed and cigarettes. the band he plays in is mediocre, at best. i'm pretty sure he doesn't shower the entire movie. he doesn't do his own laundry. and most importantly, he can't even hold a job at a tiny news stand- in fact, he steals from them b/c "the establishment owes him."

meanwhile, as mentioned above, you have ben stiller. he adores wynona ryder. he has a great job. he is funny. he is smart. he has a spine. he is clean. and he doesn't have one smoke the entire movie.

still, at the end, when dirty "troy" shows up at her doorstop, "laney" begins to cry. he tells her that he loves her. she takes him back. no matter how many times i've seen this movie, this scene makes me all girly warm and fuzzy inside.

the movie closes with the lovebirds, clearly in their new apartment, raping a classic bob dylan song, "well, he rode right up to miss mousey's house..." and she giggles like nuts as they cuddle and the movie ends.

today, for the first time, i thought to myself, "now what?"

he'll still steal snickers and get fired- he never talked about ever wanting a real job. or quitting his stupid band. or smoking. or taking showers. and she'll come home from a long day's work to find him stoned, and when she says something he'll make a sarcastic remark and sulk about how she doesn't get it because she "is just a cog in the corporate wheel." and he never took back the fact that he said he could, at any point, disappear again. they could have five kids, she comes home one day, and troy has left her with a bunch of stoned little kids sitting in a pile of his dirty laundry. i mean, even if he did make some life-altering changes, it didn't show any of it. thus advocating the ridiculous idea that the "hot" and "apathetic" hipster is the true winner in life who we should all root for.

he's not. and my question is- why did it take me 15 years to figure this out?

damn.