Director Richard Linklater and writer/actor Eric Bogosian collaborated on this adaptation of Bogosian's play about a handful of people edging into their 20's who seem like the poor relations of the genial eccentrics in Linklater's Slacker. While the Texas bohemians in Slacker has their myriad obsessions to keep them occupied (even if they didn't do much about them), SubUrbia's protagonists have few if any clear goals and hang out not as a means of killing time, but as a way of life. Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi) talks about going back to college some day while he lives in a tent in his parents' garage. His girlfriend Sooze (Amie Carey) imagines herself a performance artist; most of her "work" is displayed in he parking lot of a convenience store, though she often talks about moving to New York. Tim (Nicky Katt) was bounced from the Air Force and spends his evenings soaking up alcohol and bitterness. Buff (Steve Zahn) is obsessed with pizza and is content with his reputation as the wacky guy who will do anything. And Bee-Bee (Dina Spybey) is Sooze's best friend, just out of rehab, with her willpower hanging by a thread. It's a big night in front of the convenience store; Pony (Jayce Bartok), who used to play guitar at school dances, has become a rock star, and promises to stop by after his show at the local hockey arena (none of his friends have the money to see him play). Meanwhile, the American work ethic is represented by Nazeer (Ajay Naidu), an immigrant from Pakistan who runs the store where the kids hang out; he's sick to death of them, and lives for the day when he gets his engineering degree and never has to see their faces again. Bogosian has said this play (and in particular the character of Jeff) was freely drawn from his own post-teenage years. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
If fans of punchier or more titillating teen-angst fare find Richard Linklater's SubUrbia unaccountably dreary, it's because this slightly stagebound Eric Bogosian adaptation is actually more of a darkly comic critique of aimless post-adolescence than an exploitation of it. The conflict between the hard-working immigrant kids who run the convenience store that serves as both primary setting and overriding metaphor and the aimless American youth who hang out in its parking lot says a lot about the supposed middle-class "right" to youthful rebellion. A left turn into suspense may provide the material with a stronger plot arc, but it's the bitching and moaning that provides this film its worm's-eye view of overprivileged disaffection. The young cast proves capable, particularly Ajay Naidu as the perpetually harassed Nazeer and Steve Zahn, reprising his stage role as the goofily endearing Buff. Linklater vets Nicky Katt and Parker Posey also get juicy roles, Katt as the most self-destructive of the film's young protagonists, Posey as a hilariously vacuous music agent. Bogosian and Linklater may seem to view growing up as a choice between selling out and going nowhere, but by the end of their film they portray at least a few more options, giving SubUrbia a sense of optimism that its first two acts may not make obvious. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Seth Reed - Art Director, David Allen Smith - Boom Operator, Judy Henderson - Casting, Alycia Aumuller - Casting, Lizzie Curry Martinez - Casting, Melanie Armstrong Fletcher - Costume Designer, James Alan Hensz - First Assistant Director, Richard Linklater - Director, Catherine Hardwicke - Second Unit Director, Sandra Adair - Editor, John Sloss - Executive Producer, Kelly Nelson - Hair Styles, Caroline Brock - Location Manager, James Crowley - Location Manager, Ginger Sledge - Line Producer, Randall Poster - Musical Direction/Supervision, Eric Bogosian - Songwriter, Beck - Songwriter, Thurston Moore - Songwriter, Lee Ranaldo - Songwriter, Bill Carter - Songwriter, Kim Gordon - Songwriter, Money Mark - Songwriter, Steve Shelley - Songwriter, Ralph Watson - Camera Operator, Michelle Madison - Camera Operator, Dennis Reynolds - Camera Operator, Ferrell A. Shinnick - Camera Operator, Catherine Hardwicke - Production Designer, Lee Daniel - Cinematographer, Layton Blaylock - Cinematographer, Anne Walker-McBay - Producer, Walter Strait - Stunts Coordinator, Eric Bogosian - Screenwriter, Michael Moravek - Production Assistant, Wayne Bell - Sound Effects Editor, Deborah Wuliger - Unit Publicist, Clark Lee Walker - First Assistant Camera, Jimmy Lindsey - First Assistant Camera, Phil Curry - Gaffer, Matthew Richardson - Grip, Joe Vasquez - Grip, Ferrell A. Shinnick - Key Grip, Thurston Moore - Musical Performer, Lee Ranaldo - Musical Performer, Kim Gordon - Musical Performer, Steve Shelley - Musical Performer, Amy Lowrey - Post Production Supervisor, Cynthia Streit - Production Coordinator, Karen Ruth Getchell - Production Coordinator, Stanford Gilbert - Properties Master, Larry Seyer - Re-Recording Mixer, Monika von Manteuffel - Script Supervisor, Donald Murphy - Second Assistant Director, Ralph Watson - Steadicam Operator, Deana Newcomb - Still Photographer, Tom Hammond - Supervising Sound Editor, Bob Deschaine - ADR Mixer, Peter Waggoner - ADR Recordist, Dana Johnson-Porter - ADR Recordist, Keith Donnelly - Art Department Assistant, Peter Atherton - Art Department Assistant, J. Caleb Womble - Assistant Production Coordinator, Mark Wallace - Assistant Properties, Stan Ginsel - Assistant Sound Editor, Todd E. Smiley - Best Boy Electric, Richard J. Ball, Jr. - Best Boy Grip, Sharon Levy - Casting Assistant, Ellen Stader - Casting Assistant, Robyn Knoll - Casting Associate, Robyn Levinson - Casting Associate, James Pantone - Casting Associate, Lisa Pantone - Casting Associate, Robert Andrew Blackwood - Construction Coordinator, Janice Janecek - Costumes Supervisor, Christian Moore - Dialogue Editor, Mike Sheeren - Dolly Grip, Abby Antweil - Electrician, Dwight Carey - Electrician, Scott Conn - Electrician, Tom Kalbfleisch - Electrician, Harrison Witt - Electrician, Joanne Levin - First Assistant Accountant, Deborah Wiley - First Assistant Accountant, Gena Bleier - First Assistant Editor, Mark Coffey - First Assistant Editor, Eric A. Lewy - First Assistant Editor, Guy Sappington - First Assistant Editor, Gregg Barbanell - Foley Artist, Michael Broomberg - Foley Artist, Eric Friend - Foley Editor, Candi Duke - Key Make-up, Gary Ledyard - Leadman, Krista Ernst - Lead Scenic Artist, Morgan Miles - Production Accountant, Nerissa Oden - Second Assistant Editor, Dave Halls - Second Second Assistant Director, Joe Herlocker - Set Dresser, Bart Brown - Set Dresser, Jonathan R. Hennessey - Set Production Assistant, Kellie Parks - Set Production Assistant, Joseph C. Peters - Set Production Assistant, Cecil D. Evans - Transportation Coordinator, Keith Fletcher - Set Decorator, Lee Hunsaker - Set Decorator, Scott Streetman - Cable Person, David "The Icebat" Long - Craft Service/Catering, Bob Deschaine - Foley Mixer, Dana Johnson-Porter - Foley Recordist, Mo Henry - Negative Cutter, Jonn Cherico - Graphic Design, Caitlin Maloney - Art Department Coordinator, Matt Frederick - Art Department Intern, Darren Patnode - Carpenter, Nathan Calhoun - Carpenter
Bogosian based the story on his own experiences growing up in Woburn, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The convenience store setting is based on the 7-11 in the "Four Corners" section of the west side of Woburn, and the high-school fight song that is sung in one scene is the actual Woburn High fight song ("Black and Orange" to the tune of "On Wisconsin").
In "Burnfield", a fictional suburb of Austin, TX, five young adults who have nothing to do with their lives, decide to hang out at "the corner" outside of a convenience store one night. On the same night, their friend, the only successful member of the group, now a rock star, has returned to his hometown to revisit his old stomping grounds. The friends hang out and talk about inane subjects, while realizing that they've been wasting away their lives doing nothing. They each want to make something of themselves, but ultimately, few of them do.
The film earned a ranking of 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review giving the film 3 1/2 stars out of 4, Calling it "dark, intense and disturbing."
