There’s a scene in this movie where a character lists the stereotypes populating his art class: the suburbanite, the hippie, the brown-noser. Well, I’m calling out writer Daniel Clowes: misanthrope. His hatred for humankind is hinted at by the caricatures of his first film Ghost World, but Art School Confidential has none of that movie’s melancholy sweetness. And like the list of types, this story jumps between personalities. It tries juggling comedy, mystery, romance and suspense, but each gets in the way of letting the others really develop. Overpowering them all is a heavy cynicism, serving as a deterrent to budding creative types. I went to college for art and design, and know first-hand how disenchanting the system and certain professors can be. But Clowe’s film offers no escape or solutions to the academic beat-down, other than accepting inevitable woe. I much prefer and recommend The Cheese Monkeys, a brisk novel by Clowes’ artistic peer Chip Kidd. The setting is similar, the classrooms equally unendurable, but the story is vastly more clever and above all, inspiring.

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