Art School Confidential

A great work of art should have a purpose, a profound statement, or at least an avant-garde style. Unfortunately, Art School Confidential doesn’t produce a masterpiece of any sort from director Terry Zwigoff, the creative force behind the quirky and dry humored Ghost World. Unlike the latter, the characters in Confidential are given lackluster dialogue and the situations and relationships they find themselves in are unrealistic. The first half offers some laughs due to comical stereotypes of the artsy student and winded BS-filled explanations of unimpressive artwork. The second half, however, strays into strange territory with a murder mystery plot that isn’t even that enticing or surprising. In a sense, the end concludes with the statement that a successful artist must have an extreme characteristic, such as being a convicted murderer. Confidential gives some interesting topics to think about, but the story and characters are unoriginal and two-dimensional.

Starring: Max Minghella, John Malkovich, Sophia Myles, Jim Broadbent
Director: Terry Zwigoff
Runtime: 102 minutes