[billybob255]

Am I the only one that doesn't really like it? I see all these websites talking about how amazing it is, but it's just, eh. Everything pre-chatroulette was alright and realistic but then a third of the movie is wasted time jumping around dick shots until he magically hits upon a girl who has a quick speech talking about how fake Facebook is.

The bond between those two parts doesn't really work for me. And it seems like he just ran out of ideas for concluding the Facebook paranoia/break up scene so he cheated with the speech.

It's like a bunch of people see this movie is completely on a screen and it's this hard hitting revelation that relationships are now on screen and so this movie perfectly encapsulates a young person's relationship.

[aroman]

I had the opposite reaction to your perceived flaws. I found them extremely true to the rapid and abrupt nature of teenage computer use, as showcased in the first 30 seconds of the movie. That really is how chatroulette works -- you jump around dick shots for a while until you hit a decent human being.

The speech didn't seem like filler to me. Perhaps you haven't wasted enough time on ChatRoulette and the like ;)

[stephengillie]

The dialog is the same vapid conversation that all humans use from teenage to mid-adulthood.

[flipp]

They're sharing frustrations, emotions, connecting. Just because someone is trying to share a feeling doesn't make what they're saying instantly vapid. I thought it was great.

[thejulielogan]

Given that it's a movie about teenagers...yeah I'd hope the dialogue would be the same vapid conversations that all humans have from teenage to mid-adulthood.

[clicks]

Worse than that, what about the casual racism?

The truly shocking thing to me is no-one in this thread has yet commented about it. This is frustrating for two reasons:

1) It is so normalized that no-one felt the need to even comment about it -- as if it's not bizarre

2) 'Studying' is presumed as a boring, bad thing. Is this what college students are like? Studying a lot is bad? Asians studying a lot is 'the worst thing'?

I emphasize it not apparently being a problem is a big problem -- this is how racism is perpetuated.

[stephengillie]

>Is this what college students are like? Studying a lot is bad? Asians studying a lot is 'the worst thing'?

Yes, most college students want to study only the week before midterms and finals, so they can maximize their free time with friends. And I have seen Asian friends complain about other Asians for "living in the library" and "being too Asian".

(I was in an Asian fraternity at a 25% Asian campus...)

Yes, everyone's racist today, and the new equality is being an equal-opportunity racist. It's a brave, new world.

[noblethrasher]

The racist lines came from a non-protagonist, and the response from the protagonist was basically dismissive.

Consider also that he's going on to bigger and better things while she's apparently going to be stuck there (presumably she would have followed if she could). So her disdain for studiousness wasn't portrayed as particularly virtuous.

[dcre]

I absolutely agree we should be talking about it.

I found the line about "stinking up the place with her pork dumplings" a little over-the-top and unrealistic. I don't think I knew anyone in school who would have said something like that, though I'm sure people talk like that somewhere.

The stereotype about studying more than average is something I've heard plenty of people say about Asian students. Being a stereotype, it obviously cannot be 100% true, but there are decent reasons it might be partially true. For example, international students may have more at stake in getting an American education. And of course cultural differences in parenting that are a cliche to mention at this point.

I disagree with the other commenter that the protagonist (if you can really call the unsympathetic main character that) dismissed the racist remark. He seemed to agree, though the character was sort of sycophantic -- I can easily imagine him agreeing with everything she said just to please her.

Finally, yes, negative attitudes toward studying are extremely common in college. There's plenty of variation between schools and within schools (as suggested by the character's remark), but the idea that teenagers are lazy about schoolwork is ubiquitous in pop culture. I'm surprised that you're surprised.

[thekevan]

What I thought was cool about it was that it was just a real life shot of what an average college aged person might do online these days. Now get off my lawn.

[shurcooL]

Happiness/Likeness = Expectation - Reality.

Those who thought it was great probably did not have high expectations. The movie beat them.

You already saw websites saying how great it was, so your expectations were much harder to beat.

[DjangoReinhardt]

I think, you'll find that the equation works better if you reverse the RHS.

Happiness = Reality - Expectations.

The lesser the expectations and the greater/better the reality, the more the happiness. :)

(NB: I use this equation as a general rule for my life. In fact, I put it in one of my first HN comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5932133)

[rapind]

One of my favs https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2092745

[shurcooL]

You're right, that's what I meant.

[discostrings]

I think this format has a lot of potential, but it's also really hard to do well.

To me, this film felt much more like a stylistic proof-of-concept than something that's been realized. Having Noah change the status in Amy's account served the plot but not the story--it was a quick shortcut that got the film to the length that those who created it wanted, but it struck me as unrealistic.

This had a higher level of production behind it than The Scene, but The Scene--at least what I watched of it--did much more exploration. Granted, they're about different things, but this seemed much more glib. I think it was really more about how to execute the idea than about the content, where I feel The Scene explored the content better. I don't think either of them got it right, but I really appreciate the attempts. I'd love to see more exploration of this sort of thing.

[rapind]

Agreed. The status change seemed very unlikely.

It really got me to cringe during the mouse hovers on the buttons though. That was pretty great.

[chatman]

Not so well put together. I had higher expectations. Perhaps I miss "You got mail" (Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks).

[stephengillie]

It's a sign. It means we're getting old.

[thejulielogan]

Ah no, it means the filmmakers are young!

[atmosx]

No man, I feel you. I saw nothing strange, original or frightening about it.