S.F.W. stands for “So Fuckin’ What?”—the personal credo of one Cliff Spab (Stephen Dorff), a Generation X nobody who becomes famous after being held hostage for 36 days in a Fun Stop convenience store.

1995’s Gen X movie hits the scene quite early, and compared to its forerunners (Reality Bites, Singles, Slacker), it doesn’t come close to capturing the spirit of the generation. The movie has some entertaining moments and interesting supporting characters, but in the end it is generally obnoxious, relying on a loud punk soundtrack and far too many cliches about life.

Near the film’s end, the celebrity Cliff Spab, while delivering a speech to a highschool assembly, encounters another young would-be star, preaching an opposite message of “Everything Matters.” At this point the movie digresses into absurdity, falling completely apart in the end. Trying to blend cynicism with a condemnation of the media, a la Natural Born Killers, S.F.W. takes a low position in the films analyzing the twentysomething life.

Interesting only as a late-night oddity.

Aka SFW.