Art School Confidential is a simply terrible movie built from a script that needed dozens of rewrites before it would've been coherent. How Clowes went from creating such a lovely screenplay as Ghostworld to churning out this desperate schlock is beyond me, but it's clear that something went terribly wrong in this, his second collaboration with director Terry Zwigoff. It's apparent that they needed to rag on art, understandably, but the two must have been very hard pressed for a project to attempt this. Watching it, I was embarrassed for them.<br /><br />The cast is wasted. Angelica Huston, far and away the most talented actress in the film, is in all of two scenes. Why is she even in this movie? Malkovich's performance as Professor Sandiford is entertaining enough, but the character is totally inconsistent. The main character, Jerome, played by Max Minghella, is hopelessly naive and unlikable. Minghella tries his hardest, but I wanted more to see Jerome get slapped than to see him succeed. After ogling love interest, Sophia Myles, from across the room and then briefly meeting her, Jerome starts calling her his girlfriend. Huh? Where did this kid come from? There are myriad unbelievable, sometimes cliché developments like this which only confuse the viewer.<br /><br />What is the intent? Did they set out to make a dark comedy, a farce, or what? The prat-falls and attempts at slap-stick negate any value it might have had as commentary on the art world. The plot is labored and full of holes, the comedy is lame at best, and the so-called "twist" at the end is a cheap trick which bundles up dozens of loose, frayed ends.<br /><br />Not since Crash has a movie so enraged me.