''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. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

Adelaide Clemens Adelaide Clemens (born 30 November 1989) is an Australian actress. She was nominated for a Logie Award in 2008 for her role in the television series ''Love My Way''. In 2012, she played Valentine Wannop in BBC's television miniseries adaptation ...

and

Bojana Novakovic Bojana Novakovic (, sr-Latn, Bojana Novaković) is a Serbian-Australian actress. She is best known for her role as Det. Lizzie Needham on the drama television series '' Instinct'' (2017–2018). Novakovic's film roles include ''Drag Me to Hel ...

. 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 *

as Mia *

as Violet *

Daniel Sunjata Daniel Sunjata Condon (born December 30, 1971) is an American actor who performs in film, television and theater. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series '' Rescue Me''. Early life and education Sunjata was born a ...

as Charles *

Sarita Choudhury Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born 18 August 1966) is a British actress, known for her role as Mina in the Mira Nair-directed feature film ''Mississippi Masala'' (1991). Choudhury has played roles in American and international films and tel ...

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

Karen Olivo Karen Olivo (born August 7, 1976) is an American stage and television actor, theater educator, and singer. In 2008, Olivo originated the role of Vanessa in ''In the Heights'' on Broadway. The following year, they won the 2009 Tony Award for Best ...

as Carrie Hines, the bartender *

Ashley Austin Morris Ashley Austin Morris (born Ashley Morris, ) is an American comedian, playwright, and stage, television, and film actress. She is best known for her role as Francine Carruthers in the revival of the PBS Kids children's series ''The Electric Co ...

, as girl date *

Ruby Lynn Reyner Ruby Lynn Reyner is an American singer, songwriter, musical playwright and actress known as the star of the Playhouse of the Ridiculous and associated as the leader of the glam rock band Ruby and the Rednecks in New York City. She and her band ...

as Posse Queen

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American 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, and Stephen Wang ...

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

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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 (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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