Art School Confidential

Terry Zwigoff was three-for-three in my book. I loved Crumb, Ghost World, and Bad Santa, so his latest, an adaptation of Daniel Clowes graphic novel (he also wrote the source material for Ghost World) was a film I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, it was a misstep.

A story about a kid beginning his studies at a prestigious New York art school, Art School Confidential could have been a bright funny look at the oddities such a journey would be like. It has some strains of that--there are a lot of chuckles about the absurdity of the art world, and how some look at a painting full of scribbles and see genius while others say it's garbage. But this film gets hijacked by an absurd plot about a serial killer, that drags it into places that are uninteresting.

There's also a major problem with our hero, played by Max Minghella. He's a drip. At the beginning of the film all he wants to be the world's greatest artist, like Picasso, but by the end of the film he wants nothing else but to impress the girl he has a crush on, an artist's model played by Sophia Myles. There is little else to the character. He never says anything funny or charming or interesting, so it's hard to imagine that the Myles character, who is something of a social butterfly in the New York art scene, would be interested in him. You just don't root for the guy. Contrast this character with Enid in Ghost World, who is much more layered and sympathetic, despite her faults.

I give this film a C-.