Kicking and Screaming (1995)

Director:

Noah Baumbach

Writers:

Noah Baumbach (story) &
Oliver Berkman (story) ...

Release Date:

6 October 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Anxiety loves company.

Plot:

Following graduation, a handful of college students do nothing and talk about it wittily.

Plot Keywords:

College | College Graduation | Bar | Twenty Something | Flashback Sequence

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Josh Hamilton	...	Grover
Samuel Gould	...	Pete (as Sam Gould)
Catherine Kellner	...	Gail
Jonathan Baumbach	...	Professor
John Lehr	...	Louis
Olivia d'Abo	...	Jane
Peter Czernin	...	Lester
Carlos Jacott	...	Otis
Chris Eigeman	...	Max
Eric Stoltz	...	Chet
Eliza Roberts	...	Josselyn
Jason Wiles	...	Skippy
Parker Posey	...	Miami
Christopher Reed	...	Friedrich (as Chris Reed)
Noah Baumbach	...	Danny

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language, and some sexuality.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:R (certificate #33770) | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | UK:15 (video premiere) | Singapore:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Occidental College -1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Trimark Pictures

Trivia:

The college is loosely based on Vassar College, which the director, Noah Baumbach, attended.

Quotes:

[With Otis at the airport]
Max: (To Grover) This is useless. We just have to walk away like mothers in nursery school.

Movie Connections:

References Hoffa (1992)

Soundtrack:

Don't Let's Start

rare film

Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming is one of those rare films that actually gets it right when it comes to understanding the angst of being a young adult right out of college. Baumbach's dialogue matches each of the feelings that newly graduated students go through, but doesn't stoop to the level of condescending. We all identify with the characters of Kicking and Screaming whether it is Skippy and his wanting to further his education because there might be something he missed out on or if Skippy doesn't subconsciously want to become his friends Max, Grover, or Otis. We might identify with Max who blatantly doesn't know what to do now. Max's only hellbent on not looking back on his college years, "I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory... and I didn't have a good time." Kicking and Screaming is a film deserving to be recognize as a journey through the minds of graduates and self-discovery of oneself.