S.F.W. (1995)

Held captive for 36 days by terrorists who broadcast their ordeal live on network news Cliff (Dorff) and Wendy (Witherspoon) have become national idols whose words are parroted by the masses. But when they finally escape only to be hounded by reporters and sold out by "friends" TV's most popular hostages realize they're still prisoners-this time of the media-and the only place left to run...is to each other.System Requirements:Starring: Stephen Dorff Reese Witherspoon Directed By: Jefery Levy Running Time: 95 Min. Color Copyright 2003 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 027616878953 Manufacturer No: 1003769 Product Description

SFW? Exactly.

SFW, shorthand for an expression of disdainful dismissal that I doubt Amazon would like me annotating, is one of those cult hits whose popularity defies all logic. While genuinely endearing movies languish in studio vaults, dry rotting and forgotten, films like SFW (and you really do understand the title, right?) ride the wave of acclaim and fond regard, and personally I have no idea why. This story of the aftermath in the lives of suddenly famous teens whose entire month-long ordeal of being held hostage in a convenience store is broadcast live before the world might be suitable for a short sketch or a brief student film, but to stretch it out to feature length and say it has artistic merit...? No. Not buying it. Of course it does feature Stephen Dorff and a pre-A list Reese Witherspoon, so maybe that's a clue as to why it's still fondly referred to today not only by those who sat through it in a decade ago but by those coming of age in this decade, long after the time when by all sanity it should be a '90's artifact. Much less a satire of celebrity and media feeding frenzy, SFW is more like an inside joke its makers have played on the general public. September 18, 2007

I laughed and cried at this accurate portrayal of the media.

I had seen this movie for the first time on TV. It was so much better without everything being cut out of it! I loved how the movie all tied together these two lives from their most intimate thoughts to their most ultimate betrayals. The ironic ending was a touch of perfection to an already awesome movie. This is a must see for everyone especially Stephen Dorff and Reese Witherspoon fans. They were simply amazing! May 31, 2007

Ahead of its time

I really liked this movie when i seen it for the first time back in the begining of 1994.Recently i saw this movie on sale in circuit city for 6 dollars and bought it.After siting down and watching it again.I was amazed at how ahead of its time this movie really was.For all you people who do not get this movie,i will break it down.Basicly in a nutshell it is about a group of nobodys kidnaped and held in a 7-11.There captors dont ask for nothing,but film them the whole time.REAL Reality tv you might say.One by one they are killed of and only two remain.They finally escape and find out they are stars,for doing nothing.This movie a commentaly on the sheep mentality of the people who watch "reality TV".The same people that make nobodys,like all the winners of american idol in to the flavor of the moment.In case you were wondering SFW stands for"So F**king What".This is the conculsion Dorfman comes to at the end of the movie. September 4, 2006

Film student work

My impression watching this turkey was that it had to be the work of a film student desperately trying to impress some artsy instructor. It's all style, no substance. I got the vague impression that there was a story somewhere in this mess of flashbacks, long slow camara pans across Stephen Dorff's very trendy and stylish haircut, and yelling matches with side characters whose only function seems to be to have someone to yell with. Despite the very art-house feel of it, the story is lost, the viewer is never quite sure if the "philosophy" of the main character is meant to be taken seriously, and the style is nothing we haven't seen done better other places.

All in all, I found it pretty vapid, painfully slow, and incredibly frustrating, because there is a good movie in here SOMEWHERE, if only the script had gone to someone else to make.

On a side note, Toby Maguire shows up for a little while as a stoned out of his mind loser, which was a bit of a trip given where his career eventually went. January 17, 2006

A perfect non-hit.

This is greasy-haired, mid-90's, existentialist anti-drama at it's finest. Cliff Spab walks the world, like Camus' Stranger, unaffected by the violence, sex and drugs that inundate him. He stands, balanced on the edge of a knife, sometimes loathing the people around him for their foolishness and self-serving pretensions, and at other times loving them and embracing them for their helplessness and curiousity.

Not all people are capable of enjoying this movie. June 4, 2005

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