Last night we went to our second Sundace screening, <em>Art School Confidential</em>,  the latest collaboration between director Terry Zwigoff and writer/cartoonist Dan Clowes (the team that brought you <a href="http://www.ghostworld-the-movie.com/macns/index.html" target="_blank"><em>Ghost World</em></a>). I'm sorry to say this is no <em>Ghost World</em>. I knew there was the potential for it to be bad, since the comic on which it was (loosely) based is short, a non-narrative series of vignettes mocking various art school types. Obviously a narrative had to be created in order to produce a film, but the same was true of <em>Ghost World</em>, and it worked fabulously.

<em>Art School Confidential</em> has its moments, no doubt, but it veers into slapstick territory too often for my taste. I found the plot rather thin and the love interest portion entirely unbelievable&mdash;no chemistry whatsoever between Max Minghella (Jerome) and Sophia Myles (Audrey). I think there just isn't enough development to make me interested in the characters and what happens to them, especially the love interest, Audrey. Jerome becomes infatuated with her beauty, which of course has nothing to do with character, and that's fine. Unfortunately, we learn just enough about Audrey to make her more than simply a "beautiful cipher" but not enough to make her interesting. I just kept thinking, "Why does he like her?" Most reviews I've read have noted <a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/~public/clowes/artschoolconfidential.htm" target="_blank">the performances</a> of Max Minghella and John Malkovich. I agree that Minghella did a good job as Jerome, but Malkovich seemed to be phoning it in, doing the Malkovich if you know what I mean. The "student artworks" created for the film are very amusing (go to the <a href="http://www.sonyclassics.com/artschoolconfidential" target="_blank">official movie website</a> and chooose "Gallery" for a sampling).

The movie is entertaining enough&mdash;worth a rental, not a trip to the theater. Sad, because I would like for Terry Zwigoff and Dan Clowes to make tons of money. As far as I'm concerned, Zwigoff achieved filmmaking sainthood with the brilliant <a href="http://www.sonyclassics.com/crumb/crumb.html" target="_blank"><em>Crumb</em></a> alone. And I've watched <em>Ghost World</em> probably more times than I've ever watched any movie (other than <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/" target="_blank"><em>Ferris Bueller's Day Off</em></a>)&mdash;I am not a repeat movie watcher, but <em>Ghost World</em> seems fresh every time. Oh well, not every work can be a masterpiece!

We didn't spot any celebrities this time, either. We're obviously doing something wrong, here.

Next up: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473692/" target="_blank"><em>Neil Young: Heart of Gold</em></a>.