Ranking Every Richard Linklater Film Worst To Best
16. Tape (2001)
Set in one dingy motel room, starring only three actors (Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Robert Sean Leonard), and costing around $100,000 to make, Tape was filmed in real time on a camcorder. At its heart, Tape is a film only Richard Linklater could make, a cheap, character-driven melodrama which all dialogue and little plot.
Hawke and Leonard star as two old friends, sitting up in a motel room and reminiscing about their high school days. Things soon take a dark turn when a story is revealed regarding Hawke's ex-girlfriend.
It's pure indie filmmaking, gritty and real, and whilst the performances are great and the script tight and focussed, Tape seems woefully lacking in any major substance. The dialogue is there, the actors ready, the hook hooked, but outside of the dark and surprising twist ending, there's little there overall that lets the film stand against Linklater's more accomplished masterstrokes.