'Reality Bites,' a would-be voice of its generation, turns 30

Ben Stiller’s debut tried to be THE Gen X film, and while it wasn’t, it’s valuable now as a nostalgia piece

Ben Stiller’s Reality Bites arrived, more than any movie in my lifetime, as something meant to serve as a voice of its particular generation. 

The film, Stiller’s directorial debut, arrived in theaters in February of 1994, 30 years ago this week. Yes, the film is now older than the characters were when it was made. 

As a young Gen Xer, I was in high school then; these characters were a little older than I was then, although all the actors were played younger than their actual ages. (Ben Stiller was born in 1965, Ethan Hawke in 1970, and Winona Ryder in 1971; I was born in 1978.) 

Reality Bites was released in the middle of the 1990s and featured a cross-section of ‘90s types. Although considering the nearly all-white cast, the cross-section wasn’t all that wide, in retrospect.