Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

boneugen This film should have rang my "wise-ass" sensor alert from the very first second, and it actually did, but I preferred to sit through this whole jazz only because it was based on Daniel Clowes' Eightball story with the same name. I loved the 20th Century Eightball book with Clowes' early stories, despite some kiddish stances and statements - I guessed it was Clowes' intent to somehow parody his own tendencies of being too smart for its own sake, and I loved it. That is why I strongly believe that people who haven't been exposed to the comic story will either hate this film's guts, either like it more than it should actually deserve. I could've been more disappointed, but every now and then the film would remind me of the tone of the original story.The first negative aspect that comes to mind is the fact that the movie has got a real protagonist, a sensitive boy that renders the whole production cornier than it should be allowed. Clowes' story was more of a vignette, true, but more often than not, even when it seems the most egocentric, Clowes' writing discards the sentimental bits and presents structures and patterns that suppress the individual. Sure, those are obvious here too and ring true to the "you can't win" mindset of the art school freshman that kisses the ground way too quickly, but with incorrigibly high-school characters popping in (the movie guy and the "class d-bag" line?) everything gets too juvenile, and Malkovich and Buscemi's performances, as nice and professional as they are, can't push the whole plot forward.Then, the crime/art shtick pulled towards the end of the movie: I've seen Scarlet Street and A Bucket of Blood - the first one works much better as a melodramatic masterpiece and the second one is much better conceived from a comedic standpoint than Art School Confidential. Yes, a 1959 B-movie is funnier AND more subtle than this 2006 production. Or Natural Born Killers, which addresses the transformation of serial murderers into media icons way earlier and more efficiently than Zwigoff's movie...I can't consider this a bad movie, but it loses a lot by recycling clichés in order to "add" (?!) to the appeal of the story and adopting a cheap drama line in the second half. Sure, while there are productions where the drama of a single person can be presented in a truly impressive manner, this film didn't succeed in doing so. Quite a mediocre movie, probably not going to watch it any time soon.

SnoopyStyle Jerome (Max Minghella) is a geeky self-important Art nerd. He's always drawing and always being bullied. His great hope is Strathmore College where he could start a new life. Only Strathmore is a rundown crumbling institution with disinterested teachers. He's enamored with beautiful nude model Audrey (Sophia Myles). Oh and there is a serial killer.I love the skewering of the art world and art education. It has a dark edge. Max Minghella is not the most compelling actor but he masters the feel of a pompous art nerd. John Malkovich is great as a professor. Sophia Myles is beautiful. I could see her as an object of desire. The only problem is that I don't think Jim Broadbent is the right actor for the role. Overall, this is a good black comedy.

Ayame Blackbird I watched this movie at the recommendation of a friend. Honestly, I feel like I've more or less wasted my time with it. I'm an art student, so I'm not talking from outside of this world. Now, I understand that this movie is intended as a bit of a parody, but it fails to deliver that. It's filled with clichés and just disappointed me. From the very start, I didn't like Jerome. Badly written character. He lacks depth, personality, and is weak. He so easily changed his mind about life after talking to Mr. Serial Killer that I almost laughed. Suddenly, everything is dark and brooding, while the movie didn't set the pacing or the atmosphere for this kind of mystery flick. Besides, the ending being left unexplained doesn't "make me think" as I imagine was intended, it just leaves me dry and uninterested. The only reason I'm giving this a 6 is some of the secondary role actors who were good in their place, and some scenes that sparked my interest. Maybe my expectations of this were too high.

Metal Angel Ehrler What can I say? I always considered that art- as in paintings, drawings and such- was a very complicated thing to follow. I mean, you see a painting, you let it be absorbed into your consciousness, you reflect about it, and then you decide about what it means and whether it has any significance to you. But how do you know if it's actually "art"? This is why I found Terry Zwigoff's "Art School Confidential" to be an utterly refreshing look at the art world, which is even more complicated than what I actually believed it to be. The film deals with a quiet, lonely boy called Jerome Platz (Max Minghella), who has been bullied and ignored ever since he was a child. Now, Jerome's hero is Pablo Picasso, and ever since he remember he's wanted to be a grand artist, like his hero. "I wanna be the greatest artist of the 21st century!," he often squeals delightedly throughout the film.Anyway, little Jerome grows up, graduates from high-school and decides to enroll in a renowned art school, where young artists whose art is actually new and modern can hope to make a name out of themselves. This college is a tiny but colourful world populated with a large array of weird and quirky characters, all of them "artists", and in comes young, boyish, quiet Jerome trying to be an artist like all of them.Upon entering his dorm room, he encounters his two roommates, a fat film major (Ethan Suplee) working on a short film based on some murders that have been terrorizing the campus grounds, and a noticeably gay fashion major (Nick Swardson) who swears he misses his girlfriend.And in his most important class, little Jerome meets his holier-than-thou professor (John Malkovich) who's so full of himself to actually notice any of his students' work, a flunkie (Joel David Moore) who enrolled into art school just for the 'pussy', and...a gorgeous, sophisticated model (Sophia Myles) who also happens to be the daughter of a famous painter and who instantly becomes Jerome's muse and obsession.Throughout the film, which is perfectly written and refreshingly funny, we follow Jerome's steady psychological downfall. He begins as a happy and anxious boy with dreams, and he slowly progresses into a disheartened, depressed, suicidal failure of an artist. This happens because his art isn't appreciated at all, because he notices how arbitrary and tediously unnerving the "art world" really is, and because his muse and obsession doesn't pay him any attention and prefers to mingle with a hunky, handsome new art student who also becomes the number one artist in school and who's "art" (if it can even be called that) Jerome loathes above anything else.Why brings me back to the initial question: how do you know if something is really "art"? Through various hilarious and original encounters with artists, connoisseurs and art grads, Jerome begins to put two and two together and finds that this world that he so reveres is actually soul-sucking and lifeless. "It's not about how good you are," an art school grad (Jim Broadbent) says, "It's about how good you are at cock-sucking." But then, just when poor Jerome is about to give up on his life, his art, his everything...well, something happens that will give him one last chance to make a name for himself, to conquer his muse and adoration and to make sense out of all the craziness he's living through.More than an ironic film that exposes "art" as we know it nowadays, this film touches on the basic human feelings of failure, redemption and need. It also talks about love. And it's also very, very funny...which is good, because there is still comedy in life's tragedies, isn't there? I highly recommend this film. Believe me, you will not be disappointed! Rating: 4 stars out of 4!!