Ranking Every Richard Linklater Film Worst To Best

Costing around $20,000, Slacker was Linklater's first major hit, and ushered in a new era of independent filmmaking that continued years later with Kevin Smith's cult classic Clerks. Following numerous people as they walk and talk their way through the day, the film features a vast array of bizarre, endearing and compelling characters, but no central plot.

With Slackers, the dialogue is the plot. There's a talkative cab driver, a UFO conspiracy theorist, a man who claims to have insight into the JFK assassination, and an old man who befriends someone attempting to rob his house. They discuss everything from consciousness, exclusion, the ambiguity of the future and work.

Observant and breezy, Slackers is an exercise in lovable, natural filmmaking, painting a picture of everyday life without being boring. The characters, for all their human flaws and weird eccentricities, are captivating, the humour spotless, the thoughts deep and surprising. A definite much-watch.