re: Most pretentious movie ever - movies you used to love/but grew up and forsake

It's not as pretentious as it is of its time. That's what popular culture then was like. It's a Grunge movie. Grunge fashion and Grunge music were the thing. Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. Nirvana especially was all about "oh my angst". Reality Bites is very Nirvana. Ethan Hawke is that movie's Houston version of Kurt Cobain.