Art School Confidential

Based very loosely on one of Dan Clowes’ short comic-book stories, Art School Confidential is a wickedly funny but ultimately somewhat hollow look at the self-obsession training centers known as art schools. Max Minghella is too sincere as the lead, a boy who thinks his artistic talents will get him laid. But the real problem is the murder/mystery plot, which tries to use clichéd story structures as commentary, but falls a bit short. Still, John Malkovich is amazing as the instructor who longs for fame but paints only triangles, and Ethan Suplee has some great bits as a stereotype of the film-school kid.