Search - Bart Got a Room on DVD

Way Better than I Thought it was Going to Be

Ken Douglas | Landlocked in Reno | 03/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vesta and I have had a couple little girls staying with us, nieces eleven and seven and they really wanted to see this movie. Me not so much. Vesta not at all. But I got it for them and Vesta and I watched it with them.

I didn't expect a lot and I have to say I was blown away. I laughed. Vesta laughed. The nieces laughed hysterically. Steven Kaplan is superb as the geeky Danny who can't get a date for the prom even though the girl he should have asked from the get go is right in front of him and wants to go with him.

But the real gem in this movie is William Macy, Danny's loser dad who can't seem to get a date himself and when it looks like he's finally going to connect with a woman, Jennifer Tilly her of the best voice to every grace the silver screen, he has to suddenly break it off just when he's about to score to come to his son's rescue. He has to find Danny a date at the last minute and what a date he finds. Sadly she doesn't do proms.

Like I said. I laughed. There was tension and I was tense. This is a gorgeous coming of age movie that is full of laughs and a nice little surprise at the very happy ending. If you want to laugh and feel good about yourself and life in general, give this movie a watch."

Fun take on the trials and tribulations of adolescence

Roland E. Zwick | Valencia, Ca USA | 04/17/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Written and directed by Brian Hecker, "Bart Got a Room" is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale set in south Florida where high school geek Danny Stein won't be in the demographic majority for another fifty years yet. A good Jewish boy, Danny is all excited about attending his senior prom - or at least he would be if he could get the hot sophomore he drives to school every day to agree to go as his date. Unfortunately, she thinks of him merely as an older-brother type, so Danny is forced to look elsewhere for options, including the Plain Jane Camille (Alia Shawkat), who`s been his best friend since childhood and obviously wishes Danny felt about her the way she feels about him. Danny also has to contend with the fact that his soon-to-be-divorced parents (wonderfully played by William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines) are already in the market for future spouses and that they keep the understandably mortified youngster continually posted on their dating progress.

Though in terms of plotting there's little that separates "Bart Got a Room" from countless other films in the same genre, the movie finds a wealth of truth and humor in its deadpan depictions of ordinary life. Bart and all the figures who inhabit his world go through their days just trying to make the best of bad situations, searching for that one little nugget of happiness that will make the crushing banality of the rest of their lives at least tolerable, if not worthwhile. For Danny, it's getting a date for the prom and meeting an attractive girl who will reciprocate his romantic interest; for his parents, it's trying to get that one last stab at coupled attachment in a world where youth is prized above all else and where they're faced with a daily reminder of what awaits them in their fast-approaching "golden years;" for Camille, it's trying to get the boy she's attracted to to see her as a burgeoning woman with sexual appetites and not just a platonic buddy to study and hang out with.

"Bart Got a Room" nicely captures the exaggerated nature of teenage trauma, when showing up dateless to the prom is a personal tragedy comparable only to the crash of the Hindenburg or the sinking of the Titanic. And Steve Kaplan perfectly conveys every bit of the angst Danny experiences as he maneuvers his way through those shark-infested waters known as adolescence."

A Modern Classic for the John Hughes Generation

CPR | Oklahoma United States | 05/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bart is not the main character. In fact, he is mentioned repeatedly without a face to match the mysterious name practically the whole movie. Bart is the unlikeliest of people to do... well anything - the uncoolest, the lamest, the dullest. So when Danny (the main character) falls short at every corner attempting to find the perfect date for the prom, it's his comparison to Bart that propels the story. With a few months until the prom: Danny wants the perfect date... with a month to go: well a good date... a few days: a date... hours to go: someone with a pulse.

It's one of the oldest stories ever put to the silver screen - boy idealizes girl, boy is denied girl, boy realizes what's under his very nose all along, boy attempts to overcome obstacle... errr something like that. For all of the innocence in this movie, it never once felt naive. Well cast, well directed, well written, and overall well made. This movie is destined to have a cult following. This movie is cluttered with great characters, odd moments, witty one-liners, and so much more. This movie will be stuck in my mind for years to come.

Since 2009, I overlooked this film too long by comparing it's case cover to other indie / mini studio / art house comedies - which in the past several years seemed like an overused genre outlet. This movie is nothing short of a modern classic.

With a little of the magic of Sixteen Candles (High School Reunion Collection), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Widescreen Special Edition), and Book of Love - the deliberate steady pacing of well made movies that now seem drown in a sea of over-the-top-shock teen comedies. This makes me appreciate teen comedies again."