Reality Bites
| Reality Bites | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ben Stiller |
| Produced by |
Danny DeVito Michael Shamberg |
| Written by | Helen Childress |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Karl Wallinger |
| Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Edited by | Lisa Churgin |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11.5 million |
| Box office | $33,351,557 |
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The plot follows Lelaina (Ryder), an aspiring videographer working on a documentary called Reality Bites about the disenfranchised lives of her friends and roommates. Their challenges exemplify some of the career and lifestyle choices faced by Generation X.
The film's critical reception was mixed, but was successful commercially, grossing $20 million in the United States on an $11 million budget. Critics highlighted the performances of Ryder, Hawke and Garofalo in particular. However, it has since achieved cult status and has been singled out as one of the films that captured the zeitgeist of the early 1990s grunge scene among 20-somethings, while also bringing attention to various issues that plagued young Americans at the time.
Four friends who recently graduated from college live together in Houston, Texas. Coffee-house guitarist Troy Dyer and budding filmmaker Lelaina Pierce are attracted to each other, although they have not acted on their feelings except for one brief, drunken encounter. Troy is floundering, having lost several minimum wage jobs—the last of which he loses early in the film for stealing a candy bar from his employer. Lelaina was valedictorian of her university, and has aspirations to become a documentarian, although initially having to settle for a position as production assistant to a rude and obnoxious TV host.
Lelaina meets Michael Grates when she throws a cigarette into his convertible, causing him to crash into her car. The two soon begin to date. He works at an MTV-like cable channel called "In Your Face" as an executive, and after learning about a documentary she's been working on, wants to get it aired on his network.
Lelaina's roommate Vickie has a series of one-night stands and short relationships with dozens of guys; her promiscuity leads her to confront a very-real risk of contracting HIV after a former fling tests positive for the virus. Vickie works as a sales associate for The Gap, and is later promoted to manager and seems content with her new job. Her friend Sammy Gray is gay; he remains celibate, not because of a fear of AIDS, but because forming a relationship would force him to come out to his conservative parents.
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