Shoplifting from American Apparel (2012) Reviews

• The Hip Are Boring and They Want You to Know It

  bkrauser-81-3110642013-03-14

  Watching "Shoplifting From American Apparel" was like being forced to watch someone else play Mouse Trap for 93 minutes, only most of the working pieces are broken and none of the participants seem to care. To put it bluntly, it was a solipsistic wet dream from the mind of a rushed writer going through a quarter-life crisis. A lame meta-joke attempting to become an intellectual exercise poised only to be the fever dream of a lethargic hipster. Let me back up. What is "Shoplifting" about? Well, its based on a book about a successful writer who is arrested for shoplifting but not really. It's about a writer who has trouble communicating outside of google chat...no, that's not it. It's about the making of a movie about a successful writer who is arrested for shoplifting, can't communicate very well outside of google chat, and meets a girl...Oh and there are three people playing the same character. Audience members will no doubt get jostled by the constant narrative changes, poor character decisions, odd editing and bizarre scenes. One scene involves an actor and the director discussing Twilight over James Dean's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame while the cast and crew arrange chicken nuggets over it. Another scene involves characters talking on a beach about the perks of being writers while a man plays an electric guitar in the background. It's all very odd and confusing. Confusing and boring; boring and unnecessary; not exactly the makings of an indie classic here. http://theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com/

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