S.F.W.

Directed by Jefery Levy

R

September 15, 1994 1h 36m Box Office: $63,513Drama, Comedy

5.86%50%6.0

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An alienated and misanthropic teenager gains sudden and unwanted celebrity status after he's taken hostage by terrorists where his indifference to their threats to kill him makes news headlines.

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S.F.W. Ratings & Reviews

Christopher KingMarch 11, 2026
This film has gotten better and more prescient with the rise of internet virality and cancel culture; it could be re-adapted for the 2020s very easily. The soundtrack is pretty good and pretty cutting edge at the time. I'd love to read the novel it was based on, but the only place I can find it is on Amazon for over $450! As for the production of the film, there are good and bad things. I think there are very interesting use of televisual imagery and the satire of mid 90's TV sensationalism. I LOVE the fact they have John Roark playing like six different guys on TV; the symbolism and deeper meaning of that remains even as the direct references to Larry King, Phil Donahue, Tom Brokaw, and others are lost to time. While I liked most of it, there was something not quite right about the representation of life of 20-somethings at that moment...while it hits on the media parody, it misses on the development of Cliff's real interior thoughts. Dorff is good in the role, but maybe his white teeth grin threw something off with the actual reality of the kind of guy Spab was supposed to be. We've all known guys like that, but Spab's disconnections from his own parents and homelife seemed contrived and came off more as a lampooning than developing his chracter. Overall, I've always liked this film despite its flaws and bleak themes. Dorff and Witherspoon's youth make them both beautiful to look at and the attitude and soundtrack really evokes memories of the time in ways that are hard to create with exposition or set design. I really hope the intellectual property gets rediscovered and re-optioned into a new adaptation. If given to the right filmmaker, and if deliberately aimed at lampooning modern audiences rather than playing to their bigotry, then I believe S.F.W. would still have a really good message today. Sometimes it is important to answer the bad news of the fucked up world with a loud, "Oh Well!" and go about your business of life.

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