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The ten essential slacker movies
In its simplest definition, a slacker is someone who tries their best not to work. Underachievers, procrastinators, timekillers... they're all just slackers.
Slacker movies have, over the years, become one of Hollywood's most endearing genres as audiences search for legitimisation of their own workshy behaviour in movies glorifying the cult of the nothing.
The term might have come into being with Richard Linklater's Slacker in 1991, and as The Hangover prepares to release, we take a look at ten slacker films spanning varied styles and attitudes: and each film is an underachieving champion.
Oh, and the list isn't in any particular order. What self-respecting slacker would spend time rating movies? (Okay, don't answer that.) Read on.
Clerks
Director Kevin Smith burst onto the indie scene with this fantastic movie about a couple of storekeeping slackers who made white shirts and ties into official slacker uniform for a while. Dialogue writing at its snappiest, this one.
Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey
Alex Winter is Bill, Keanu Reeves is Ted and together they are The Wyld Stallyns. A rock band with no foreseeable future, the two slackers tread through a zany sci-fi comedy armed only with air guitar riffs (played by none other than Steve Vai).
It's a sequel, but thanks to Ingmar Bergman references and time travel, way more excellent than the duo's original adventure.
Pineapple Express
Seth Rogen forges an unlikely alliance with his exasperatingly hard-to-hate pot-dealer, played by James Franco, as the two hit the road to keep extinction at bay, armed only by very little common sense and very much weed. A snappy bromance for today's slacker generation.
Super Troopers
Jay Chandrasekhar's Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe hit peak with this ridiculously entertaining film about five Vermont state troopers who really, really enjoy playing pranks.
The slacker cops suddenly find themselves solving serious crimes, to uproarious consequences.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Amy Heckerling's coming-of-age comedy marked several Hollywood debuts, including ones from actor Nicolas Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola's nephew was yet to change his name to Cage) and screenwriter Cameron Crowe.
A young cast of young talents dominate the proceedings, from Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh, to Vincent Schiavelli and Forest Taker, and they're a pretty crazy, wildly fun bunch of events. If only all college movies were this cool.
Up In Smoke
Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are the stoner-movie equivalent of Laurel and Hardy or, better yet, Thompson and Thomson.
This Lou Adler film brought the stand-up icons to the big screen, and there was no looking back as the two blazed a massive celluloid doobie -- and end up winning Battle of the Bands in the most unlikely way possible.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
If slackerdom has a crown prince, it is Ferris Bueller.
John Hughes' most endearing film stars a potently irrepressible Matthew Broderick as a high school student cutting a dayful of classes -- and what a day he packs in, from karaokeing the Beatles at a parade and borrowing a friend's father's Ferrari.
Swingers
Iron Man director Jon Favreau wrote and starred in the lead role in this Doug Liman film that also brought Vince Vaughn into the spotlight.
The film is about non-working actors in LA, the hero is reeling from a bad break-up, and the way he suffers phone-call stress is the stuff of slacker yore. As is Vaughn's supercool use of the word 'money' for 'cool.'
The Big Lebowski
Take a million Ferris Bueller dreams and pour them over crushed ice, Baileys and vodka (with a pinch of salt) and you have The Dude.
Jeff Bridges played the cult-creating titular protagonist, a bathrobe-wearing drinker upset at a stolen rug 'that really tied the room together.'
This is the film that truly defines just how much genius lies with filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.