“My motto is you should make a point of trying everything once, except incest… and folk dancing.”

Justin’s rating: Enroll into a heap of fun

Justin’s review: I consider myself fortunate to have come of age during a period of ’90s indie cinema. I didn’t really appreciate it at the time, but now I look back at the explosion of experimental and creative bonanza and feel a well of deep fondness uncork within me. It’s why I like going on the prowl for titles I haven’t yet seen from that era, which led me to 1996’s Love and Other Catastrophes.

Kind of the Australian relative to Clerks and Empire Records, this film covers a frantic day in the life of several university students trying to keep their head above water.

Mia (Frances O’Connor) is breaking up with her girlfriend Danni (Radha Mitchell) and jumping through hoops to switch to a different department. Alice (Alice Garner) is ducking her thesis advisor — she’s four years late on it — and on the prowl for an impossibly perfect boyfriend. Ari (Matthew Dyktynski) is picking up extra cash as a campus gigolo, and Mike (Matt Day) is a quiet med student who really, really needs to find a new place to live. They’re a pretty likable crew, especially Mia and Alice, who form a sassy and dorky yin-yang of a friendship.

All of these characters converge on a party thrown at Mia and Alice’s apartment, as the two hope to use the shindig to ferret out a needed third roomie.

Even though the movie isn’t that well-known, its ’90s indie trademarks are instantly recognizable: The shoestring budget, slightly pretentious interstitial quotes, the alt-rock soundtrack, dialogue-heavy scenes, a grainy and grungy look, and characters just trying to find their way in this crazy world. Watching it felt like coming home to a home I’d never visited before but was instantly comfortable when I got there.

Plus, it had girls speaking in Aussie accents, which is my supreme kryptonite.

You can look at the awkwardness and relative lack of polish of Love and Other Catastrophes as a drawback, but it’s not to me. This movie’s voice came from its 23-year-old director Emma-Kate Croghan, who certainly had her finger on the pulse of college living in that era by virtue of her age. And I love that she doesn’t devolve into a pit of nihilism and depression that seemed to strike a lot of the Gen X indie scene. Giving us an ensemble of likable characters isn’t always assumed, but it is welcome, and having them go on a journey to reach an upbeat destination is even more welcome.

This is a movie where its leads declare “love conquers all.” And they totally believe it without a shred of irony. Love and Other Catastrophes certainly conquered me.

Intermission!

• Do these opening credits take place during a nuclear bomb flash? So bright. So bright.
• I miss when girls used to wear overalls
• Always nice when someone pukes in the sink where you’re brushing your teeth
• “Oh Mia, you’re always leaving everything up to the last possible moment.” “This from someone whose thesis is four years late.”
• Maybe don’t move in with the neo-nazis
• Don’t usually see gimp piggy-back rides in movies
• “Love’s always dangerous.”
• Hiding behind counters always works
• “Why can’t you find a nice down-to-earth boy?” “Cause I want that one.”
• Doris Day as feminist warrior
• “That’s all right. It’s not your fault my life is a complete disaster.”
• The Quentin Tarantino, Woody Hall, Spike Jones outfits
• Gotta have at least one coffee shop scene!
• The forehead L!
• Mia singing on the bench with sunglasses and earbuds — in another time, I would’ve been in love
• That’s a lot of donuts in the drawer. And Ari steals one.
• “I’m John Travolta… I’m Pee Wee Herman.”
• “They’re your clothes!” “They’re all horrible.”
• OK the cameraman at the party needs to calm the heck down
• Well that kiss didn’t end well
• But that one did