''Generation Um...'' is a 2012 independent drama film about "a New York City family of circumstance" written and directed by Mark L Mann, and starring

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...

, Adelaide Clemens and

Bojana Novakovic Bojana Novakovic (, sr-Latn, Bojana Novaković) is an Australian actress. She is known for starring in the police procedural television series ''Instinct'' (2018–2019). In film, she has appeared in '' Drag Me to Hell'' (2009), ''Edge of Dark ...

. The film was released theatrically in New York City and Los Angeles on May 3, 2013, moving quickly to VOD and DVD.

Plot

''Generation Um...'' is an existential day-in-the-life portrait that immerses the viewer in the downtown mindsets of John Wall (Keanu Reeves), a lost soul who's been circling the New York City drain for too long, and the two party girls he spends his birthday with, Violet (Bojana Novakovic) and Mia (Adelaide Clemens), as they look for light in the darker aspects of their "family of circumstance" and the paths their self-destructive lives have taken.

Cast

as John Wall * Adelaide Clemens as Mia *

as Violet * Daniel Sunjata as Charles *

Sarita Choudhury Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born August 18, 1966) is a British actress. She made her screen debut starring in the romantic drama film ''Mississippi Masala'' (1991). She later appeared in American and international film productions, includ ...

as Lily, the waitress *Jonny Orsini as Rick * Jake Hoffman as Rob, the wine store guy *

Karen Olivo KO, formerly named and credited on stage and screen as Karen Olivo until 2022, (born August 7, 1976) is an American stage and television actor, theater educator, and singer. In 2008, KO originated the role of Vanessa in '' In the Heights'' on Br ...

as Carrie Hines, the bartender * Ashley Austin Morris, as girl date * Ruby Lynn Reyner as Posse Queen

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 0% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 3.2/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 25 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang is an American film critic and columnist currently working at ''The New Yorker''. He previously worked for '' Variety'' and for ''Los Angeles Times''. His 2023 reviews at the ''Times'' won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Critici ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "a slapped-together sub-mumblecore exercise that at times suggests a feature-length expansion of 2010′s 'Sad Keanu' meme." Stephen Holden of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote in his review, "Just because the characters waste their time doesn’t mean you should waste yours watching them circle the drain."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1718158 2012 films 2012 drama films Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Voltage Pictures films 2010s English-language films American drama films 2010s American films