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I never really understood the whole craze behind "Reality Bites" - and I just realized why. I'm the Ben Stiller of that movie. People I know always go on about that movie and how great it is, and how it speaks for our generation - and I always just blew them off. I'd never even seen the movie in its entirety. A little here. A little there. And what I saw wasn't enough to warrant me devoting any more time than I already had. But, with the 10th Anniversary Edition now available, I decided to check it out. And I'm Ben Stiller. Damn. I squandered my youth.

Reality Bites is the story of a bunch of people and the direction their lives take immediately following college graduation. There's the valedictorian - Lelaina (Winona Ryder stole this performance!), the slacker/poet/musician/philosopher, Troy (Ethan Hawke), the sarcastic roommate, Vickie (Janeane Garofalo), the homosexual, Sammy (Steve Zahn) and finally the me character Michael (Ben Stiller), the ambitious executive. Personally, I'd like to think of myself as the slacker - or even the sarcastic roommate, but I know better. While everybody else was out partying, even in high school, I was working. I still remember working 40 hour weeks at McDonalds when I was in Grade 9. What was I thinking? Anyways, the movie is a slice of life comedy/drama. Is it accurate? I hope not - because if it is, then I was a bigger loser than even I used to think.

For the 10th Anniversary DVD, there's a few special features, but really not as much as you might expect. There's a feature commentary with Ben Stiller (who besides his co-starring role also directed) and writer Helen Childress plus some deleted scenes introduced by Stiller. The real gem though is the disc's "Retrospective" featurette. Here, we get interviews with all the principles, including Ryder, Hawke etc. They talk about the movie and the impact it had and how it was the movie for their generation. Nothing overwhelmingly special I guess. I just enjoy retrospectives. You learn little things like how the studio originally wanted Gwyneth Paltrow instead of Winona Ryder. Did I make the comment about her stealing this performance yet? Seeing her here was really shoplifting - I mean uplifting. On another side note, Ben Stiller must've gotten some dental work done in the last 10 years. His teeth were brutal back in the day.

Other features here include the music video "Stay" by Lisa Loeb and an interview with her where she talks about the song and the movie. Love those glasses. We also get the original theatrical trailer.

Like I said earlier, there's not a lot special about this Anniversary Edition. There's a few bonus features, but for a movie that was supposedly such a touchstone for a generation, I really think they could've done a lot better. Perhaps the people who made this DVD were the same type of people who were the basis of Hawke's character - slackers.