Not even close and I loved the book by Ellis, Dazed is effortless and Less Than is seriously forced..
Less than zero has possibly the best performances of Jamie Gertz and Robert Downey jr in them. It held a lasting impression on me to this day.
The book and the it's follow up, Rules of Attraction were great reading for a young impressionable mind..
This is a joke poll right? Less Than Zero is just an awful movie. Dazed and Confused is a modern classic.
"Less than zero" is a good movie, but it's not in the same league as "Dazed and Confused". Kind of like comparing the Dixie Chicks to the Eagles (which you did once upon a time).
You may prefer Dazed and Confused, but you certainly are way underrating less than zero. Dazed and Confused is a nostalgia film, less than zero wasn't. Also there is no a performance in dazed and Confused that can touch Robert downey Jr's in less than zero.
I could say the same about a half a dozen movies in the 70s that more accurately portrayed that era than dazed and confused : meatballs for example. Fast times in the 80s. As far as Bright lights big city, nobody ever talks about Micheal j fox's portrayal of the lead character in that film. It was an okay movie.
I saw it when it came out after having read the book and I thought it really sucked by comparison, yes it's a bad movie.
I think McWooderson in Dazed is up there with RD Jr's acting, although you could say they're both just playing versions of themselves. And Less Than came out pre nostalgia, that didn't really start til about 1994.
What, there's no right or wrong here. Obviously "Less than zero" resonated with you, and just like beauty, to each his own. I did like it (my wife really liked it). Downey did a fantastic job with that character. "Dazed and confused" was set in '76, and I was a freshman in high school. Linklater nailed it!!! From the characters, to the story (last day of school), to the clothes, the music, and all the little things (playing paper football, calling for shot gun, buying beer with a fake ID, and on and on). Going to get Aerosmith tickets in the morning as a closing scene as young Mitch is laying on his bed, drunk, with "slow ride" blasting on the head phones. Priceless. ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALIGHT
That's all I am saying, is give less than zero its due. Also, I do think Dazed and Confused is an exaggeration and obviously the drug angle is a lot of the reason people like the film so much, but I really don't think it can compete with films like the breakfast club or St. Elmo's fire or even Say Anything. I think that Linklater took his subject matter and bastardized it for his own purposes. Whereas john hughes really cared about his characters far more. I see more of the 70s in films like Friday the 13th than I do in Dazed and Confused. Just a fact.
