Out of all the many Exploitation sub genres, there's one that doesn't get brought up nearly enough. Generation-X-Ploitation. Yeah. I just made that up. But go ahead and watch Gregg Araki's 1995 sex-fueled cult comedy, The Doom Generation, and tell me such a thing doesn't exist. The Doom Generation was Araki's second part in a trilogy of dark, offbeat, homo erotic comedies based in L.A. which starred James Duval. The Doom Generation being much more dark than homo erotic. A rather chaotic movie with some very random occurences. A movie supposedly meant to shock and offend. And I don't doubt that it works on a certain level for some. Not so much myself. But it is entertaining, and even hilarious, at times.

Amy Blue and Jordan White (played by Rose McGowan and James Duval) are an 18 year old couple who are as different as night and day. Amy is a hot-tempered meth head. An ornery little bitch who wouldn't think twice about kicking someone's ass. Jordan is a typical movie stoner. Kind of peaceful. Actually a pretty chillin' guy. But an idiot just the same. Despite being so different, the two teens are totally in love. And one night in Amy's car out in a parking lot, the two are finally about to get it on for the first time until a young drifter named Xavier Red gets thrown on Amy's car and is quickly beaten and stabbed by a pissed off bunch of people for a reason that is never explained. Xavier jumps in the car and quickly recommends Amy get them out of there, which immediately starts an arguement between the two, and lasts up until the point when Amy kicks him out a peace down the road. Soon after that, Amy and Jordan head to a convenience store for some food, only to be held at gun point by a psychotic clerk after they forgot their money. Seconds away from being blown to hell, Xavier jumps out of nowhere and saves the day, accidentally blowing the clerk's head clean off. A head which insists on talking shit to them even after being blown off. The three hightail it.

Not taking a second to realize how possible it would have been to explain things to the authorities, Amy and Jordan immediately become fugitives, along with their new friend, whom Amy still despises. Although, once he whips his dick out in a motel one night after Jordan falls asleep, Amy starts to warm up to him a little, and they soon become lovers, which Xavier isn't shy about discussing in front of Jordan, who honestly seems to not give a shit. Or is just that nice of a guy. Everywhere the three go, chaos follows. Xavier either kills someone (in self defense), or one of Amy's psychotic ex-lovers spots her and tries to make trouble for them. Amy always insists these people are crazy, but it's never confirmed whether she was lying or not. Despite being a bit of a psycho, Xavier seems to be a pretty swell guy, at times. Despite that, he is very much poison to these two aimless teens. Despite what his true motives may or may not be, Xavier is very much the Serpent to their Adam and Eve. And the longer they keep running aimlessly with this snake, the closer they come to their own destruction. But you just know they're all going to find a way to fit in a threesome before anything major goes down, which is what the whole movie seems to be leading towards.

The three, young up and coming actors is what makes this stupid movie not so stupid, and very much watchable, I remember thinking, when watching this for the first time, what a cool character James Duval's Jordan was. Not unlike Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times At Ridgemont High, and that other long-haired guy from Dazed And Confused. Being older, now, this guy just seems more like a dumbass little pussy, which is actually more entertaining, now that I think about it. Rose McGowan's character, Amy Blue, is that of a hateful little bitch. A person I'd probably not want to be associated with in real life. But even now, this is by far my favorite of all her roles. She does have something special about her, and watching Rose in this, it's clear she has a bright future post-Doom Generation. And Johnathon Schaech (Xavier) would of course move on to much bigger things as well. Namely, a marriage to Christina Applegate. Enough said, there.

This isn't a bad movie by any means. It's funny and interesting, as well as sad, at times. While it's not quite as clever as it thinks it is it does get its point across, whatever the hell that may be. But I'll just say it. The Doom Generation is kind of silly. The attempted apocalyptic tone is completely out of place and not done very well. That and the 666 bullshit just seems like a lame attempt to be edgy. Qualities which are completely disconnected from the story and are never elaborated on. However, being a teenager in the 90's, I'll admit it all seemed pretty cool at the time. And after rewatching this movie recently, it did occur to me that it all works simply because it takes our minds off how bad the writing really is. I'm not bashing it, as this is one of my favorite non-Horror cult classics, and hasn't a dull moment to offer, with plenty of quotable lines as well as hot fuck scenes. Despite itself, The Doom Generation is a good time which leaves us wanting more. 6/10