Film
Slacker
Linklater's plotless day in Austin drifts from one oddball monologue to the next — conspiracy theorists, backseat philosophers, petty anarchists — the camera handing off to a new stranger every few minutes instead of following a story. It's atmosphere and talk rather than plot, warm rather than judgmental about a generation going nowhere fast. Watch it loose and unhurried, as a mood rather than a movie.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love hanging out in a city's loose, talky margins, where wandering conversations drift from conspiracy theories to dream logic and the plot is more a route than a destination.
Skip it if you need momentum, a central character to follow, or a story that builds; this is a loose chain of strangers crossing paths, and its rambling can feel more like waiting than watching.
What it asks of you: Ninety-seven minutes of patience, with no rising action to lean on. You drift from one encounter to the next and the pleasure comes from noticing the small oddities along the way.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Dazed and Confused1993
Linklater's own follow-up swaps Austin's drifters for one last day of 1976 high school — same roaming camera, same faith that hanging out is plot enough, with more music and mischief thrown in.
But Trades Slacker's philosophical detours for teenage swagger and nostalgia; less wandering mind, more wandering party.
Clerks1994
Kevin Smith's black-and-white convenience-store comedy is Slacker's East Coast cousin — cheap, talky, plotless, full of people rambling their way through a shift instead of doing anything useful.
But Cruder and more joke-driven than Slacker's loose philosophizing; sitcom energy where Slacker has mood.
Waking Life2001
Linklater returns to the same wandering structure a decade later, but rotoscoped into shifting animation, turning street-corner philosophy into something closer to a fever dream.
But Even more plotless than Slacker, and the animation's woozy shimmer can feel exhausting stretched over ninety minutes.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Slacker
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
La Ronde1950
Both films are built on the same trick: the camera abandoning its subject mid-scene to follow whoever they bump into next, turning the whole cast into a single continuous handoff.
Forty years before Slacker, Max Ophüls built an entire film out of the same relay structure — one character's story handing off to the next as they pass each other in the street, forming an unbroken chain of Vienna's citizens.
But Ornate, composed, and formally precise — the opposite of Slacker's ragged spontaneity; if you loved the mess, order might disappoint.
More like this (8)
Metropolitan1990
Whit Stillman's debut swaps Austin's scruffy eccentrics for Manhattan debutantes, but keeps the same faith that a group of aimless young people talking is worth your evening.
But Trades Slacker's grubby democracy for upper-crust wit and tuxedos; a much more mannered kind of drifting.
Kicking and Screaming1995
Noah Baumbach's directorial debut follows recent college grads too clever and too scared to actually leave campus, marinating in the same directionless dread and comic self-sabotage.
But More conventionally plotted and less freewheeling than Slacker's structure-free wander through an entire town.
Reality Bites1994
The glossier, more mainstream Gen X hangout movie — underemployed grads, ironic detachment, a soundtrack built for the moment — same generational shrug, sold with a bigger budget.
But Far more romantic-comedy shaped than Slacker; the drifting is set dressing here, not the whole point.
Empire Records1995
A single chaotic day inside a record store, stuffed with oddballs who'd fit right into Slacker's Austin — smaller cast, tighter space, same hangout-first instinct.
But Broader and more sitcom-cute than Slacker's shagginess; the eccentrics are cast for charm, not authenticity.
Ghost World2001
Two aimless teenage girls drift through a dead-end town collecting weirdos and killing time, sharing Slacker's affection for people going nowhere in particular.
But Has an actual emotional arc and ending Slacker refuses to give you; more coming-of-age than pure wander.
Before Sunrise1995
Linklater again, distilling the wandering-and-talking formula down to two people and one night in Vienna — same trust that conversation alone can carry a film.
But Romantic and intimate where Slacker is communal and scattershot; an entirely different temperature.
Chronicle of a Summer1961
Slacker's naturalistic monologues are staged to feel like overheard documentary; this earlier film is the actual documentary that pioneered letting ordinary people ramble on camera about their lives.
This landmark of cinéma vérité stops real Parisians on the street and asks them to talk about happiness, work, and meaning, capturing the same unscripted-feeling philosophizing Slacker only performs.
But No actors, no jokes, and far more interested in postwar French anxiety than stoner comedy — a genuinely different temperature.
Kids1995
Both structure a whole film around one aimless day and a cast that hands the story off to whoever's nearby, but where Slacker finds warmth in going nowhere, Kids finds horror in it.
Same engine as Slacker — a wandering, plotless day following a loose, baton-passing cast of young people through a city — but swapped into something far rawer, following reckless New York teenagers instead of Austin philosophers.
But Genuinely upsetting where Slacker is affectionate; explicit and bleak, made to unsettle rather than charm.
People
Cast
Richard LinklaterShould Have Stayed at Bus Station- Rudy BasquezTaxi Driver
- Jean CaffeineRoadkill
- Jan HockeyJogger
- Stephan HockeyRunning Late
Mark JamesHit-and-Run Son- Samuel DietertGrocery Grabber of Death's Bounty
- Bob BoydOfficer Bozzio
- Terrence KirkOfficer Love
- Keith McCormackStreet Musician
- Jennifer SchaudiesWalking to Coffee Shop
- Dan KratochvilEspresso Czar / Masonic Malcontent
Directing
- Richard LinklaterDirector
- Meg BrennanScript Supervisor
Writing
- Richard LinklaterWriter
Production
- Anne Walker-McBayCasting
- Richard LinklaterProducer
- Anne Walker-McBayProduction Manager
Recommended by
High Maintenance, My Dinner with Andre, Clerks, Waking Life, I Vitelloni, Nashville, Night on Earth, Coffee and Cigarettes, Reality Bites, Stranger Than Paradise, 80 Blocks from Tiffany's, Mallrats, Repo Man, Before Midnight, Party Girl, Permanent Vacation, Years Later: The Unbelievable Truth and Its Consequences, The Forbidden Room, Alice's Restaurant, La Chinoise, Eat the Rich, Tromeo & Juliet, Trust, The Strongest Man in the World, The Good Soldier Švejk, Jesus' Son, Simple Men, Flirt, Hannah Takes the Stairs, Crime Wave, Pickup on 101, Tail Lights Fade, Between the Lines