generation startup movie review

Film Review: ‘Generation Startup’

A documentary looks at six young on-line entrepreneurs and celebrates their Internet idealism — maybe a little too much.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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The words “Internet” and “commerce” go together like “baseball” and “game,” and in 2001, the great documentary “Startup.com” set the gold standard for movies about on-line entrepreneurs. Shot in 1999 and 2000, just as the dot-com bubble was bursting, it captured, in fascinating detail, the attempt by a former Goldman Sachs trader to launch a site called govWorks.com. The company wasn’t without merit (it was designed to facilitate a user-friendly relationship between citizens and their bureaucracy). But part of the lacerating honesty of “Startup.com” is that the film never shrank from the idea that it was all about the money. For the creators of govWorks, their IPO was going to be Christmas Day meets the Fourth of July  — or, at least, that was the kind of hope and desire that bubbled up around the Internet bubble. The crash of the boom sent out a different message: Your IPO dream is a fantasy of winning the lottery. It’s possible, but don’t stake your day job on it.

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Fifteen years later, the young entrepreneur wannabes in the new documentary “Generation Startup” may indeed have staked their day jobs, but from the outset it feels like they have less to lose — and less to gain. One of them is co-starting a company that designs mobile phones and tablets (really? Isn’t that sort of like saying you want to launch a hamburger stand to compete with McDonald’s?), one of them has invented a special brand of pasta made from chickpeas (it’s gluten free, and texture-challenged as well), and one is spearheading a new kind of property-management company that will hook up landlords and tenants in a more direct way (which sounds like a smart idea). They have all relocated — not to Austin or New York, but to Detroit, where they’re part of an umbrella project called Venture for America, which has purchased a 3,000-foot, 7-bedroom wreck of a house for $8,000. They do a makeshift renovation, turning the living room into their office laptop lounge, and christen it “the Rebirth House.” That’s a reference to the way their efforts are serving the greater social good — not just the startup companies themselves but the fact that they’re all  there , in Detroit, at the crumbling heart of a city that needs to be brought back to life.

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“Startup.com” channeled the end of the go-go ’90s (which a lot of people seem disinclined to admit were even more materialistic than the go-go ’80s). But “Generation Startup” catches a vastly different mood. Its subjects are so giddy with idealism that the fundamental issue of why they’re all doing this in the first place remains starry-eyed and a bit vague. From the outset of the digital era, on the campuses of behemoths like Microsoft and Apple and Google and Amazon, the ideology struck by those companies’ overseers was always that they represented a new breed of corporation — one whose driving motivation, apart from profit, was to make the world a better place. The altruistic element, or at least the perception of it, was baked into those companies’ brands, and to a striking degree it was embraced not just by their employees but by the larger world — specifically, by the media coverage of new technology that has always, at least until recently, fawned over that aspect of CEO gurus like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.

It’s remarkable, in “Generation Startup,” to behold how much that belief has filtered down into the cells of the culture. The attitude of every one of the film’s subjects is some variation on: The Internet is good. Internet companies are good. To start one up is good for the world. The profit motive, or perhaps we should just call it the earning-a-living motive, might be implicit, but it is scarcely mentioned on screen. And we hear next to nothing about business plans. (I kept thinking that we might have learned a lot more had the leaders of each company been subjected to four minutes of grilling by the hammerheads of “Shark Tank.”) The movie itself doesn’t seem overly interested in fiscal details. It’s pumped and boosterish, with thrumming music over the introduction to each character that says, “They’re in this because they care.” In “Generation Startup,” the notion of starting up a dot-com has a mystique about it. It’s not just a business — it’s a way to accessorize your cred.

What’s less clear is how much any of the startup companies we’re seeing fulfill that mission. There’s a bit of real-world grounding to the opening scene, in which Labib Rahman, an Indian-American from Yonkers, tries to explain to his conservative Muslim parents why he’s ditching a conventional career to join a startup. His father points out that only one in 10 startups succeed, and Labib says, “I know that I am on my own,” but his grin tells you he doesn’t know what that means. It turns out that Labib, who’s one-half of the mobile-phone/tablet company, has a biomedical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins, and what’s never clear is why working at a startup like Mason (the name of his company) would mean following his bliss any more than becoming a biomedical engineer would.

A person who comes off as equally bushy-tailed — and lost — is Dextina Booker, an ebullient rasta-braided M.I.T. grad who wants to “give back,” and whose slightly ominous overseer talks in syllogisms like “The nature of what we do is extremely project-based.” Labib observes that many of the twentysomethings who get involved in startups come from privileged backgrounds, which is why they can afford to experiment and maybe even fail. That’s a fantastic point, because it suggests something about the entire culture of startup mania, and the kinds of values that it channels. But it raises the question: Are the other people we meet in “Generation Startup” from privileged backgrounds? Are they helping to “rebuild” Detroit, or are they wide-eyed interlopers using the burnt-out husk of a city as a hipster corporate playground?

The filmmakers, Cheryl Miller Houser and Cynthia Wade, are way too coy about all of this. They simply accept on faith, and ask the audience to accept, that everything they’re showing us is cool and progressive. But there’s no doubt that they’ve done a very good job of capturing the spirit and flavor of a certain kind of millennial go-getter. Brian Rudolph, for instance, is a man with a mission. He’s the cofounder of Banza, the first and only brand of chickpea pasta, and he believes in his product. He keeps tinkering with the recipe, trying to get it right, giving away samples of it at farmer’s markets, and he succeeds in getting it onto the shelves of several hundred stores. His industrious fervor is admirable (he winds up being cited in a “30 under 30” feature in Forbes), though if he were simply presented as a young guy who had launched a pasta company, we wouldn’t necessarily be watching a movie about him. It’s the tech link that gives it that indie edge.

The promise of the Internet has always been that it would create a world of greater transparency, but that hasn’t happened. Corporations, maybe in reaction to the information age, now shroud their inner workings as never before, and “Generation Startup” is too blurry about the grass-roots wheeling and dealing it shows. What separates success from failure? And how, exactly, has the Internet changed commerce for startups? These questions remain only half-asked and mostly unanswered. Yet by the time “Generation Startup” is over, you feel like you’ve spent some quality time with people who incarnate both the unique opportunities offered to their generation and, in a certain unstated way, the lack of opportunities. From a glance, the Rebirth House looks like a community, a thriving hive of innovation and industry, but the movie also shows you that to try for a startup in this era is, at bottom, a lonely endeavor. For it’s not enough to start a company. To be successful, you have to demonstrate that there’s a need for it.

Reviewed at Magno, New York, September 19, 2016. Not rated. Running time: 93 Min.

• Production: A Creative Breed release. Produced by Cheryl Miller Houser, Brian P. Egan. Executive producers: Susan Margolin, Lauren Zalaznick.
• Crew: Directed by Cynthia Wade, Cheryl Miller Hauser. Camera: Boaz Freund. Editor: Kimberly Pellnat.
• With: Brian Rudolph, Avery Hairston, Dextina Booker, Kate Catlin, Labib Rahman, Max Nussenbaum, Andrew Yang, Pamela Lewis.

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Meet Generation Startup: The Film That Has Successful Entrepreneurs Singing Its Praises

'generation startup' documents the stories of six young entrepreneurs, and what it's like to build a company in america..

What does it take to build a business in America?

That's the question Generation Startup tries to answer, a film documenting the real-life stories of six young entrepreneurs who put everything on the line to build companies in Detroit. Directed by Academy Award winner Cynthia Wade and award-winning filmmaker Cheryl Miller Houser, the film aims to celebrate risk-taking, urban revitalization, and diversity--while encouraging entrepreneurship as a stimulus to the U.S. economy.

What Famous Entrepreneurs Are Saying

So far, the film has gotten powerful endorsements from some of the most well-known entrepreneurs of recent times.

For example, Shark Tank star Daymond John said the movie"will light your imagination, stir your soul and inspire you to take a shot just like its fearless characters do." And Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, called the film "an exhilarating, uplifting, and honest look at what it really takes to launch a startup."

The film receives further glowing reviews from a number of entrepreneurs, including Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn), Steve Case (who co-founded AOL), and Tyra Banks (actress and founder of Tyra Beauty and Model), among others.

Although I haven't seen the film, the trailer does a nice job of capturing some of the highs and lows of modern entrepreneurship.

The Subjects

Upon learning more about the film, I was naturally drawn to the subjects documented.

They include:

Brian Rudolph: Unable to find a nutritious pasta he liked, Rudolph set out to make his own--using chickpea flour. Along with his brother Scott, he launched Banza in 2014.

The company quickly gained popularity and even appeared on national television...but the brothers suddenly lost $100,000 when an attempt to scale turned much of their pasta to mush. Brian spent months trying to find a solution. Last year TIME Magazine named Banza one of the Top 25 Inventions of 2015 , and they won the $500,000 first prize in Accelerate Michigan's pitch competition. In 2016 Brian was named to Forbes' list of 30 Under 30 in Food.

Dextina Booker: After graduating from MIT in 2015 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Product Development, Dextina moved to Detroit to join the growing startup community. Along with her brother, she was raised by a single mom from Guyana who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. Dextina attributes her resourcefulness to her mom.

"You have to play the game to change it," Dextina says. "As soon as I get to a place where I can bring other people who are different, then I'm going to do that so that we can have a more authentic and representative culture."

Labib Rahman: In August 2014, Labib became the first employee for Mason , an early stage startup that builds android smart phones and tablets. The film showcases the conflicting views between Labib and his parents, immigrants from Bangladesh who went into debt to send him to school.

Labib eventually takes a well-paying job at an established company, but he's unable to shake the entrepreneurship bug--leading him to work nights and weekends to launch a startup that connects clothing manufacturers in the US with factories in Bangladesh that use fair labor practices.

I Can Relate

I know what it's like to put everything on the line to follow my passion--although I was already much older than the subjects of this film when I started building a business.

As much as I appreciate the hustle and determination needed to start a company, I also know how easy it is to get swallowed into that life--to the point where you lose sight of what's really important.

I'm looking forward to watching the film, and it appears that these young people have achieved some remarkable things. But if I could share one piece of advice with them, it would be this:

In your efforts to build something great for the world, make sure not to push everything else out of yours.

Generation Startup opens to limited release on September 23.

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‘generation startup’: film review.

Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser follow recent college grads who go to work with tiny new firms in Detroit.

By THR Staff

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Beginning with the surprising assertion that “entrepreneurship among 18-30 year-olds is at a 24-year low,” Generation Startup focuses on the efforts of a half-dozen youngsters to buck that trend in a city that needs all the starting-up it can get: Detroit. Beginning their 17-month observation on the ground but relying increasingly on self-shot video diaries as the doc goes on, directors Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser offer a film that often feels like reality TV. Still, on TV Startup will speak to many young viewers who are struggling to figure out not just where to make their talents useful in the world, but what those talents are in the first place.

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The film’s subjects are participants in Venture for America, a non-profit that places recent college grads in jobs at startups around the country. Wade and Houser find six of these youths in Detroit, where their jobs entail everything from clearing debris out of abandoned houses to helping direct grant money to local do-gooder organizations. Some are stereotypical self-starting hustlers, some seem just to have grown accustomed to achieving in school and decided this was a logical next step.

Release date: Sep 30, 2016

Most soon have doubts about their choices, given the long hours and uncertain rewards of startup culture. One fresh recruit, working for an alum of the VfA program, thinks he has signed on with a sure thing, only to see the business — Banza , a food company making a gluten-free pasta substitute from chickpeas — threaten to fall apart when its first commercial batches turn to unappetizing gruel. Another finds her calling not in the company that hired her, but as a matchmaker between young women and the established female professionals willing to mentor them.

Inevitably, some will wind up feeling exploited. One is the first employee of an outsourcing company, and quickly finds himself overseeing phone manufacturing at four Chinese factories. He appears to be indispensable, but when the company expands, his place in it doesn’t.

There’s enough variety in the workplace settings here to keep us interested, but the doc’s chronology isn’t the smoothest: We make a big leap or two in time, and must piece together the major developments that happened while we weren’t watching. It’s as if the filmmakers set up their storylines and waited until a point at which life more or less lived up to the optimism they intended to deliver. The success rate here may not reflect the ratio in the overall startup world. But how are you going to get promising kids to start businesses if you just show them failure?

Distributor: Long Shot Factory Production company: Creative Breed Directors: Cynthia Wade, Cheryl Miller Houser Producers: Cheryl Miller Houser, Brian P. Egan Executive producers: Susan Margolin , Lauren Zalaznick Director of photography: Boaz Freund Editor: Kimberly Pellnat Composer: Eric V. Hachikian

Not rated, 92 minutes

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Generation Startup Reviews

Just keep in mind, this is a revealing but upbeat documentary about new Detroiters made by non-Detroiters. If you want a more homegrown take, you'll have to see a different movie.

Full Review | Sep 11, 2018

Just keep in mind this is a revealing but upbeat documentary of new Detroiters made by non-Detroiters. If you want a more homegrown take you'll have to see a different movie.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 7, 2018

"Generation Startup" has lofty goals, but its reach is overextended.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Oct 7, 2016

Startup will speak to many young viewers who're struggling to figure out not just where to make their talents useful in the world, but what those talents are in the first place.

Full Review | Sep 30, 2016

This inspiring doc, shot through a rose-colored lens of optimism, provides a lightweight insiders' look at six recent college grads, most newly arrived in Detroit to work at rising startups or grow their own.

Full Review | Sep 23, 2016

By the time "Generation Startup" is over, you feel like you've spent some quality time with people who incarnate both the unique opportunities offered to their generation and, in a certain unstated way, the lack of opportunities.

It's not very interesting!

Full Review | Sep 22, 2016

Review: ‘Generation Startup’ doc checks in on young entrepreneurs

• Copy Link URL Copied!

Directed by Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser, the documentary “Generation Startup” puts a human face on millennial startup culture. The film depicts the program Venture for America, which supports entrepreneurship in recent college graduates in cities around the United States by placing fellows in startup companies.

“Generation Startup” focuses on a diverse group of fellows in Detroit, a city that is a symbol of both America’s past, and its potential for growth and revitalization. Dextina is a black, female MIT grad in a predominantly white male industry; Labib, the son of Bangladeshi immigrants, struggles with his parents’ lack of support; Kate searches for female mentors in the tech sector. Brian and Avery of Banza, a chickpea pasta company, strive to make their product the best it can be; while the team behind Castle attempts to disrupt the real estate management business with their software tools.

In many ways, “Generation Startup” is both too narrow and too broad to truly capture the notion of the “startup” in the zeitgeist. It’s a warm, uplifting portrait of the potentials to be found in startup culture, but feels blinkered by its specific focus.

-------------

‘Generation Startup’

Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica

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Review: Detroit-set ‘Generation Startup’ aims high

“Generation Startup” is like a company making an early pitch to investors: it’s idealistic, well-meaning and maybe not entirely ready to come to market.

This look at a handful of young entrepreneurs in Detroit deals with the struggles of starting a business, along with the difficulties of reinventing oneself in a city in the process of reinventing itself. But its focus is fractured and some of its storylines have a low return on investment.

The best narrative concerns Banza, a gluten-free pasta made from chickpea flour started by Brian Rudolph, who came to Detroit as part of the Venture for America Fellows program that encourages entrepreneurship in Detroit. Directors Cheryl Miller Houser and Cynthia Wade follow Banza from its shaky beginnings — early on, the pasta congeals into a paste its makers compare to hummus mixed with oatmeal — to its later successes, and show there are no shortcuts along the way.

Another thread seems to be all shortcuts. The founders of a real estate app called Castle are shown questioning their dedication to their project and nearing a financial dead end — the company’s funding isn’t clear — before scoring a major investment during a pitch in New York. Several key elements of their story are missing.

There are other stories — a New Yorker, Labib, struggles with his job, his faith and his family back home; a young woman helps fund new businesses (but must keep her work confidential, to the film’s detriment) — that have seeds of interest, but feel incomplete.

“Generation Startup” has lofty goals, but its reach is overextended.

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‘Generation Startup’

Not rated: language

Running time: 92 minutes

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Film Review: ‘Generation Startup’

The words “Internet” and “commerce” go together like “baseball” and “game,” and in 2001, the great documentary “Startup.com” set the gold standard for movies about on-line entrepreneurs. Shot in 1999 and 2000, just as the dot-com bubble was bursting, it captured, in fascinating detail, the attempt by a former Goldman Sachs trader to launch a site called govWorks.com. The company wasn’t without merit (it was designed to facilitate a user-friendly relationship between citizens and their bureaucracy). But part of the lacerating honesty of “Startup.com” is that the film never shrank from the idea that it was all about the money. For the creators of govWorks, their IPO was going to be Christmas Day meets the Fourth of July — or, at least, that was the kind of hope and desire that bubbled up around the Internet bubble. The crash of the boom sent out a different message: Your IPO dream is a fantasy of winning the lottery. It’s possible, but don’t stake your day job on it.

Fifteen years later, the young entrepreneur wannabes in the new documentary “ Generation Startup ” may indeed have staked their day jobs, but from the outset it feels like they have less to lose — and less to gain. One of them is co-starting a company that designs mobile phones and tablets (really? Isn’t that sort of like saying you want to launch a hamburger stand to compete with McDonald’s?), one of them has invented a special brand of pasta made from chickpeas (it’s gluten free, and texture-challenged as well), and one is spearheading a new kind of property-management company that will hook up landlords and tenants in a more direct way (which sounds like a smart idea). They have all relocated — not to Austin or New York, but to Detroit, where they’re part of an umbrella project called Venture for America, which has purchased a 3,000-foot, 7-bedroom wreck of a house for $8,000. They do a makeshift renovation, turning the living room into their office laptop lounge, and christen it “the Rebirth House.” That’s a reference to the way their efforts are serving the greater social good — not just the startup companies themselves but the fact that they’re all there , in Detroit, at the crumbling heart of a city that needs to be brought back to life.

“Startup.com” channeled the end of the go-go ’90s (which a lot of people seem disinclined to admit were even more materialistic than the go-go ’80s). But “Generation Startup” catches a vastly different mood. Its subjects are so giddy with idealism that the fundamental issue of why they’re all doing this in the first place remains starry-eyed and bit vague. From the outset of the digital era, on the campuses of behemoths like Microsoft and Apple and Google and Amazon, the ideology struck by those companies’ overseers was always that they represented a new breed of corporation — one whose driving motivation, apart from profit, was to make the world a better place. The altruistic element, or at least the perception of it, was baked into those companies’ brands, and to a striking degree it was embraced not just by their employees but by the larger world — specifically, by the media coverage of new technology that has always, at least until recently, fawned over that aspect of CEO gurus like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.

It’s remarkable, in “Generation Startup,” to behold how much that belief has filtered down into the cells of the culture. The attitude of every one of the film’s subjects is some variation on: The Internet is good. Internet companies are good. To start one up is good for the world. The profit motive, or perhaps we should just call it the earning-a-living motive, might be implicit, but it is scarcely mentioned on screen. And we hear next to nothing about business plans. (I kept thinking that we might have learned a lot more had the leaders of each company been subjected to four minutes of grilling by the hammerheads of “Shark Tank.”) The movie itself doesn’t seem overly interested in fiscal details. It’s pumped and boosterish, with thrumming music over the introduction to each character that says, “They’re in this because they care.” In “Generation Startup,” the notion of starting up a dot-com has a mystique about it. It’s not just a business — it’s a way to accessorize your cred.

What’s less clear is how much any of the startup companies we’re seeing fulfill that mission. There’s a bit of real-world grounding to the opening scene, in which Labib Rahman, an Indian-American from Yonkers, tries to explain to his conservative Muslim parents why he’s ditching a conventional career to join a startup. His father points out that only one in 10 startups succeed, and Labib says, “I know that I am on my own,” but his grin tells you he doesn’t know what that means. It turns out that Labib, who’s one-half of the mobile-phone/tablet company, has a biomedical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins, and what’s never clear is why working at a startup like Mason (the name of his company) would mean following his bliss any more than becoming a biomedical engineer would.

A person who comes off as equally bushy-tailed — and lost — is Dextina Booker, an ebullient rasta-braided M.I.T. grad who wants to “give back,” and whose slightly ominous overseer talks in syllogisms like “The nature of what we do is extremely project-based.” Labib observes that many of the twentysomethings who get involved in startups come from privileged backgrounds, which is why they can afford to experiment and maybe even fail. That’s a fantastic point, because it suggests something about the entire culture of startup mania, and the kinds of values that it channels. But it raises the question: Are the other people we meet in “Generation Startup” from privileged backgrounds? Are they helping to “rebuild” Detroit, or are they wide-eyed interlopers using the burnt-out husk of a city as a hipster corporate playground?

The filmmakers, Cheryl Miller Houser and Cynthia Wade, are way too coy about all of this. They simply accept on faith, and ask the audience to accept, that everything they’re showing us is cool and progressive. But there’s no doubt that they’ve done a very good job of capturing the spirit and flavor of a certain kind of millennial go-getter. Brian Rudolph, for instance, is a man with a mission. He’s the cofounder of Banza, the first and only brand of chickpea pasta, and he believes in his product. He keeps tinkering with the recipe, trying to get it right, giving away samples of it at farmer’s markets, and he succeeds in getting it onto the shelves of several hundred stores. His industrious fervor is admirable (he winds up being cited in a “30 under 30” feature in Forbes), though if he were simply presented as a young guy who had launched a pasta company, we wouldn’t necessarily be watching a movie about him. It’s the tech link that gives it that indie edge.

The promise of the Internet has always been that it would create a world of greater transparency, but that hasn’t happened. Corporations, maybe in reaction to the information age, now shroud their inner workings as never before, and “Generation Startup” is too blurry about the grass-roots wheeling and dealing it shows. What separates success from failure? And how, exactly, has the Internet changed commerce for startups? These questions remain only half-asked and mostly unanswered. Yet by the time “Generation Startup” is over, you feel like you’ve spent some quality time with people who incarnate both the unique opportunities offered to their generation and, in a certain unstated way, the lack of opportunities. From a glance, the Rebirth House looks like a community, a thriving hive of innovation and industry, but the movie also shows you that to try for a startup in this era is, at bottom, a lonely endeavor. For it’s not enough to start a company. To be successful, you have to demonstrate that there’s a need for it.

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Generation Startup

• This film tracks six young Detroit entrepreneurs over 17 months as they struggle to make their business dreams into successful startup realities.
• Generation Startup takes us to the front lines of entrepreneurship in America, capturing the struggles and triumphs of six recent college graduates who put everything on the line to build startups in Detroit. Shot over 17 months, it's an honest, in-the-trenches look at what it takes to launch a startup. Directed by Academy Award winner Cynthia Wade and award-winning filmmaker Cheryl Miller Houser, the film celebrates risk-taking, urban revitalization, and diversity while delivering a vital call-to-action-with entrepreneurship at a record low, the country's economic future is at stake.

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The Big Picture

• Dave and John Chernin’s raunchy high school comedy belongs in detention.
• Incoming pales in comparison to the teen comedies it’s trying to replicate.
• It’s just not very funny.

Incoming isn't the next Superbad — it's just super bad . Dave and John Chernin follow in the footsteps of everything from Can't Hardly Wait to American Pie , but they're miles behind. Booksmart , Blockers , and Good Boys have shown how R-rated teen comedies (or younger) can thrive in a modern climate — Incoming kills that momentum. It's the lowest-hanging fruit of house party mischief, resulting in literal toilet humor and misguided attempts to skewer the 2000s sex comedy era. One or two jokes might cause a titter, but the other ninety-eight percent of this unfunny deflation has nothing to offer but hormonal awkwardness without the gut-busting payoff.

Incoming (2024)

Incoming is a high school comedy about four freshmen—Benji, Connor, Eddie, and Koosh—who face the challenges and hilarity of their first-ever party. As they navigate this milestone, they encounter various adolescent terrors. 

What Is 'Incoming' About?

Mason Thames stars as Benj Nielsen, a dorkish, theater-loving freshman who wants to kick high school off right. Benj's friends aren't much cooler, but they're optimistic nonetheless. Connor ( Raphael Alejandro ) is an anxious gremlin nicknamed "Fetus," and Eddie ( Ramon Reed ) is a meek pushover. They're all more Jim than Stiffler, but an opportunity presents itself. The final pillar of their group, aspiring social media star Danah 'Koosh' Koushani ( Bardia Seiri ), claims his brother is throwing an upper-classman party, and he can sneak them onto the VIP list . Can this be the start of a badass new era for Benji's boys, or will their night turn into a complete shitshow?

Let's start with "shitshow," because my phrasing is intentional . An entire subplot of Incoming involving internet celebrity Loren Gray concerns excrement — and that's mostly all. It's about a blackout drunk girl, late-night Taco Bell, and poop (for multiple scenes). It's also depressingly unfunny, yet two significant characters are tethered to Gray's soiled Katrina Aurienna for most of their screen time. That's not to say high school comedies of yore have been paragons of intellectual stimulation, but what the Chernins put forward challenges braindead direct-to-video sequels like Road Trip: Beer Pong .

In short bursts, there are times when Incoming displays some semblance of reflective commentary . Danah's creepy-as-hell control room, where he can spy on his brother's party via surveillance cameras, acknowledges how movies like American Pie — which doubled down on Porky's pervy invasions of privacy — positioned unacceptable behaviors as humorous. Benj and Danah agree, out loud, that it's reprehensible … and then Danah goes right back to spying on girls he wants to have sex with (to prove he's worthy of his insane older brother's legacy). Whenever Incoming is about to make an interesting point, said point tumbles off a cliff, and the film embraces precisely what the Chernins just tried to roast. Where a satirical movie like Dude Bro Party Massacre III learns from the past and becomes a loving parody of the slasher subgenre's mistakes, Incoming does the opposite and regresses to the mechanical beta version of high school sex comedies without any introspection.

'Incoming' Is a Netflix Comedy That Wastes Bobby Cannavale

The Chernins' screenplay is spectacularly uninspired , like how Danah and Kayvon Koushani ( Kayvan Shai ) are a recreation of the Bilzerian brothers from Big Mouth . The writing and directing duo drenches Bobby Cannavale 's Mr. Studebaker in cringe, ruining his funny-on-paper schtick as he teaches the children lessons while getting inappropriately hammered with minors. Coming-of-age elements beam the charisma of candy Valentine's Day hearts, and high school stereotypes are cookie-cutter molds that have rusted over from neglect. Not to mention Benji's driving motivation the whole movie, asking out his sophomore crush Bailey ( Isabella Ferreira ), ends in the most don't-make-me-watch-this fashion right before the credits slam into an abrupt finish. It's all a Mad Libs of stupidity like "cattle prod to balls" or "sex with your mom jokes," no funnier than the genius who draws dicks on people's foreheads when they're asleep (which happens, duh).

It's disappointing because the cast is brimming with talent. Names like Kaitlin Olson , Gattlin Griffith , and Scott MacArthur are wasted on a single defining trait. None of the young headlining boys break the shackles of their caricatures, stunting formative storytelling. For an "epic" night of debauchery, Incoming plays scenarios safe and tempers its reductive ambitions. That extends to the lengths performances can push, which isn't very far. Maybe the doodie gag exhausted all the studio's goodwill? It's lighthearted in the wrong, inconsequential way, which leads to its thematic juvenility hitting like a down pillow .

An Andy Warhol quote says, "Art is what you can get away with," which applies here. Incoming reuses the same morally uncouth methods of teen comedies that we now look back on with raised eyebrows — without any humor to soften the blow. The Chernins replicate raunch and ridiculousness, but there's no comedic justification behind most of what's depicted. It's not edgy, funny, or provocative enough to overcome lousy taste, lacking key ingredients that made movies like American Pie so successful. Incoming is a massive disappointment that'd get picked last in gym class, barely funnier than the class clown who never left your hometown.

Incoming is a bummer of a high school comedy that tries to say something about the American Pie era but forgets its point halfway through and just tries to copy what worked a few decades ago.

• I think I laughed once or twice, so there's that.
• Loren Gray gets the only likable payoff, somehow.
• Jokes faceplant on repeat.
• It's giving the copycat kind of déjà vu.
• The cast is wasted on thoughtless material.

Incoming is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

• Movie Reviews

Generation Startup Movie

Who's Involved:

Cheryl Houser, Cynthia Wade

Release Date:

Friday, September 23, 2016 New York Friday, September 30, 2016 Los Angeles

Plot: What's the story about?

Takes us to the front lines of entrepreneurship in America, capturing the struggles and triumphs of six recent college graduates who put everything on the line to build startups in Detroit. Shot over 17 months, it’s an honest, in-the-trenches look at what it takes to launch a startup.

official plot version from generationstartupthefilm.com

1.00 / 5 stars ( 2 users)

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Who stars in Generation Startup: Cast List

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A look at the Generation Startup behind-the-scenes crew and production team.

Cynthia Wade Cheryl Houser

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Production: what we know about generation startup.

• “Generation Startup is an exhilarating, uplifting, and honest look at what it really takes to launch a startup. It’s a celebration of young entrepreneurs who embrace uncertainty, take risks, and dare to fail on their path to success.” — Arianna Huffington

Filming Timeline

• 2016 - August : The film was set to Completed  status.

Generation Startup Release Date: When was the film released?

Generation Startup was a New York release in 2016 on Friday, September 23, 2016 . There were 16 other movies released on the same date, including The Magnificent Seven , Storks and Beauty and the Beast .

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• Wed., Aug. 17, 2016 from generationstartupthefilm.com
• added a poster to the gallery
• added Creative Breed as a distributor
• set film release to Los Angeles
• added the US film release date of September 30, 2016
• added a link from generationstartupthefilm.com
• changed the US film release date from TBA to September 23, 2016
• set film release to New York
• added Theatrical Trailer to trailers & videos
• added a synopsis
• changed the production status to Completed

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• 46   Metascore
• 1 hr 33 mins
• Documentary, Tech & Gaming
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This inspirational documentary follows six hardworking college graduates living in Detroit as they try to get their start-up companies off the ground.

Generation Startup (2016)

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• Who are the actors in 'Generation Startup'? 'Generation Startup' star cast includes Dextina Booker, Kate Catlin and Avery Hairston.
• Who is the director of 'Generation Startup'? 'Generation Startup' is directed by Cheryl Miller.
• What is Genre of 'Generation Startup'? 'Generation Startup' belongs to 'Drama' genre.
• In Which Languages is 'Generation Startup' releasing? 'Generation Startup' is releasing in English.

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‘generation terror’ review: dirs. sarah appleton & phillip escott [frightfest 2024].

• Aug 26, 2024

In 2021, co-directors Sarah Appleton and Phillip Escott released their documentary, The Found Footage Phenomenon . It was a great success and was immediately scooped up by horror streaming giant, Shudder. Then the duo parted ways to make two further documentaries with Escott helming The Legacy of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Appleton pairing with Japanese cinema expert, Jasper Sharp, to create The J-Horror Virus . Now the two have reunited for their latest exploration into horror cinema history, Generation Terror . 

Whilst there are several documentaries that exist that explore the horror films of the 70s, 80s and 90s, the 00s remain heavily uncovered. With the exception of both The Found Footage Phenomenon and The J-Horror Virus, few works have explored what was a truly fascinating era of the genre. This wrong is now thankfully righted with Generation Terror, an in-depth look into a decade of horror that, unlike previous ventures, explores the era as a whole, rather than a singular movement. 

Starting with a look at the latter half of the 90s, Generation Terror moves all the way through the first ten years of the noughties. Unlike other genre documentaries such as In Search of Darkness, Generation Terror does not concern itself with highlighting movie after movie. Instead, it is focussed on stimulating discussions around world events from the era and how that impacted and influenced the genre cinema being created. Appleton and Escott also expand the viewpoint wider than just America or England, with discussions about the films that both Japan and France were making at the time.

Most importantly, unlike some of its horror documentary peers, Generation Terror has a modest run time. Many recent film documentaries have been over three, if not four, hours long. This is too long a runtime for most to watch in one sitting, and even if they do, it becomes a case of information overload. Generation Terror keeps to a more respectable 100 minutes, making it more of a bitesize morsel than its beefier counterparts. The drawback to this runtime however, is that some topics are not afforded as much screen time as some would want, but overall the directing duo do a great job at keeping everything balanced. 

Of everyone interviewed, it is director and podcast host, Joe Lynch, that appears to get the most time on screen and this is more than deserved. Lynch is a fountain of horror knowledge and hearing him talk about these films and topics could get even the most 00s horror hater excited to watch a movie or two. Britain’s Christopher Smith and Neil Marshall also provide a lot of great insight. The most striking aspect across the board is that on the whole, the filmmakers interviewed don’t keep the focus on their own films. In fact, most barely mention their own contributions to the movement and are instead far more interested in talking about the films that helped shape and inspire them to get involved. Prince Jackson’s contributions to Generation Terror also needs to be championed. The film journalist rivals Lynch in terms of knowledge and repeatedly gives thoughtful and incisive responses.  

With so much to discuss, from the events of September 11th and July 7th, to the rise of torture porn, J Horror, French Extremity, and the onset of the ongoing cycle of horror remakes, Generation Terror has plenty to delve into. Whilst some aspects are focussed on slightly more than others, the overall feeling is that there’s just enough on each to keep fans engrossed. As with other era orientated horror docs before it, Generation Terror presents some key moments of nostalgia for those for whom 00s cinema was a formative part of their horror journey. This nostalgia is reinforced through the use of Thibault Chavanis’ new metal inspired score. 

Even before the release of Generation Terror , Sarah Appleton and Phillip Escott had proved themselves masters of the horror doc, both individually and together. Generation Terror establishes them as being even more capable at their trade. Whether they stick with documentary cinema for their next project remains to be seen, but whatever they create and with whomever they work with next, we’re certain it’ll be another hit. 

Generation Terror

In Generation Terror, a key era in modern horror cinema is finally explored in all encompassing depth. 

Generation Terror was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 .

Kat Hughes is a UK born film critic and interviewer who has a passion for horror films. An editor for THN, Kat is also a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic. She has bylines with Ghouls Magazine, Arrow Video, Film Stories, Certified Forgotten and FILMHOUNDS and has had essays published in home entertainment releases by Vinegar Syndrome and Second Sight. When not writing about horror, Kat hosts micro podcast Movies with Mummy along with her five-year-old daughter.

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10 Movies That Truly Define Generation Z Feat. Bottoms, Do Revenge And The Edge Of Seventeen

Gen-Z is all about new experiences and doing things their way. However, as being, there are times it’s hard to relate to things, but here are 10 movies that completely define Gen-Z:

Gen-Z wit, fashion, and speech are notoriously tricky to recreate in film. As they prompt widespread mockery of numerous movies depicting the group on the internet. However, there are a few films that highlight the key qualities that distinguish this generation from previous generations. Much of this is due to the internet's impact on redefining young people's social rules and intellectual capital. This causes trends and beliefs to change at a faster rate than ever before. This makes movies feel more old. However, many bright Millennial directors with a future in film have accepted the challenge.

While many related Millennial movies have been released since the generation's inception, more Gen-Z films have gained popularity. This is exciting because a new group of Gen-Z filmmakers and actors has taken over Hollywood and established themselves as the future of cinema. With the influx of content from a younger age, the elder generation may find it difficult to accept changes. These changes come in the themes and plot of the stories. However, the best films made by and for Generation Z entertain everyone, regardless of their demographic. Here are 10 movies that define Gen Z on point! 

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The Hate U Give 

The Hate U Give, based on Angie Thomas's novel of the same name, explores the darker aspects of the world that Generation Z has grown up in. The film focuses mostly on the murder of Khalil, a young black man who is close friends with the protagonist, Starr. He is slain by a police officer, prompting a public outcry from Starr and her community. Which is directly related to real-life cases of police brutality that have been condemned in the United States for years.

Theater Camp 

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Molly Gordon co-directed and starred in Theater Camp, which also features Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Ebebiri, and many other outstanding Gen-Z emerging stars. The picture proved especially powerful for younger audiences. Several teenagers who seek out new and independent films have had the experience of traveling upstate to attend theater camp. 

The original songs, as well as the plot's exploration of niche theater and film issues, drew a specific yet committed fanbase. Though Theater Camp did not have a wide distribution, it became popular among viewers who expressed their curiosity and enjoyment of the film via the Internet. Though Theater Camp's visual elements are more reminiscent of decades past than of the present. Yet they remain consistent with Gen-Z's style and interests.

Bottoms' funniest scenes clearly demonstrate what constitutes Gen-Z humor and writing. Its absurdist elements match with a sense of humor born and raised on the internet. Bottoms stars Ayo Edebiri and Sennott, and their chemistry is what makes so many of the gags work. 

Edebiri and Sennott are likely to be remembered as two of Gen-Z's biggest stars. This is given as their contributions to film and television has already gained them critical acclaim and nominations during awards season. Though Bottoms is primarily aimed toward LGBTQ+ audiences, its themes, and lessons about love and friendship are universally applicable.

The Edge of Seventeen 

Hailee Steinfeld has established herself as one of the top actresses of her generation with her appearances in numerous films. Steinfeld's role in The Edge of Seventeen, however, was as Nadine. Nadine, like many Gen-Z protagonists, struggles to connect with and communicate with others. Which results in acute feelings of isolation that are exacerbated by how people interact with one another on social media. Steinfeld is joined by Woody Harrelson, who contrasts Nadine's Generation Z impulses with his maturity and knowledge. 

The Edge of Seventeen has a deeper tone than most comedies since Nadine is a flawed protagonist who is truly battling in life. Her reliance on her only friend, Krista, causes apprehension, and when Krista starts dating Nadine’s older brother, this sends her into a spiral. Nadine is described in The Edge of Seventeen as a member of Generation Z who has all of the data and terminology of an adult but none of the experience or perspective. 

Eighth Grade 

While it is common to make films about teens of all generations, it is considerably more difficult to address the tumultuous and insecure period of middle school. That is right before a child transitions to adolescence. Eighth Grade is painfully anxious and cringe-worthy; the film doesn't mince words about how difficult it is to be a thirteen-year-old girl and how much worse it has grown as a result of the rise of technology and social media. 

Kayla, played by Elsie Fisher in her breakthrough role, is constantly on her phone and finds it difficult to connect with people outside of it due to anxiety. Anxiety issues linked to increased internet usage are defining characteristics of the Gen-Z experience. However, Eighth Grade does not villainize or criticize Kayla for her lack of experience in the world and reliance on her phone because this is all she knows.

Bodies Bodies Bodies 

Bodies Bodies Bodies is both a dark satire and a horror picture, and it is apparent that it was inspired by the genre's masterpieces. Few films have caught the beat and subtlety of Gen-Z language and communication as effectively as Bodies Bodies Bodies has. It helps that the actors are all familiar with online language and terminology. But Bodies Bodies Bodies also tries hard not to date itself by incorporating themes that are too anchored in the early 2020s. Many successful current horror films are class reflections and belong to the "eat the rich" genre, which Bodies Bodies Bodies mocks for its frequently false moral condemnations. 

Love, Simon 

Love, Simon follows the typical rom-com pattern and focuses on Simon, a young LGBT teenager who continues to struggle to come out and embrace himself while living in a more liberal period. However, his sexuality is only one aspect of his life and personality; the film also emphasizes his connections with his friends and family. 

When Love, Simon was released, the fact that the film revolved around a gay love tale was significant. It was one of the first to be funded by a major studio. It’s outstanding theatrical performance demonstrated how much Generation Z values having their stories told on film. The positive critical reception it garnered has paved the path for the more current Gen-Z movies that talk about LGBTQ+ stories. 

Do Revenge 

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Do Revenge features two prominent Gen-Z television actresses, Camila Mendes from Riverdale and Maya Hawk from Stranger Things, as the leads. The labyrinth of lies, secrets, and betrayals that slowly unfold in Do Revenge is often absurd. Yet it demonstrates that Gen-Z is just as capable of melodrama and stylization in filmmaking as previous artists. Do Revenge, like many films in its genre, was released directly on Netflix for streaming. However, this has not detracted from its popularity. Because social media is such an important component of Gen-Z life and culture, every element of existence is curated to some extent, and Do Revenge portrays this effectively. 

Booksmart  

Olivia Wilde's debut film, Booksmart, demonstrated that while girlhood and the transition from high school to college seem different for each age, many of the experiences are common. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever play genuine best friends in the film. The film follows their characters' final days of high school before heading for college. The film's plot is remarkable primarily because it shows such a strong female relationship. 

But it's also a high school movie that makes the cool kids look good. As the protagonists' perspectives on their peers shift dramatically over the story. While the film depicts traditional high school cliques, they are subverted, and the idea that everyone has worries and insecurities is conveyed. Booksmart also addresses the immense pressure that many children feel to get into a top college.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 

Netflix released the first To All The Boys film, which was an early example of Generation Z's twist on the typical rom-com. To All The Boys, starring Lana Condor and Noah Centineo, is lit up by their tentative and naive connection. Which allows the youngsters to be typical kids. A common problem in Gen-Z media is that directors make the actors act too adult for their age. But the film's cast really appears to be teenagers. Furthermore, while using their phones and allowing the internet to interfere with their relationships, they are not the archetypal "screenagers" shown in certain films.

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Avnii Bagaria is a Entertainment Journalist who is also a music and hollywood enthusiast. She has an experience of

Avnii Bagaria is a Entertainment Journalist who is also a music and hollywood enthusiast. She has an experience of over an year on working and reporting everything entertainment related. She knows what's going around and has a basic curious nature to stay updated with trends and everything thats going around. She aims to be a journalist and publish fun and quality news from the industry. She has previously worked on publishing engaging and eye catching news articles with multiple organisations. She is currently working as Content Writer (Hollywood) at Pinkvilla. 

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