Let me just say i think slide is a great production, visually it's very slick. Acting, for the most part, is great, my highlight being Emily Robins' devious, sultry but ultimately kind Scarlett, she just seemed the most real out of all the main characters. But unfortunately for "Slide" that isn't saying much, and also pointing out the shows main problem. While lots of effort has gone into creating a "Cool" atmosphere, with hip and happening music, young and attractive party goers and rocking clubs, almost none has gone into creating any semblance of character construction. The everyman at the heart of slide, Ed Newman, whose trials and tribulations trying to get laid, that we are obviously meant to sympathise or relate too, are nothing but cliché. Ed is a characiture of the teenage boy. Yes Slide, teenage boys are horny, but that isn't their defining characteristic. Ed is basically one joke masquerading as a personality and as a result intensely unsympathetic and boring. The same goes for most of the characters. Luke, the pretty boy,is royally shafted in this department, having the least to do. Eva is the cool rebellious one but doesn't seem to do anything to fulfill this stereotype other than graffiti and have pink hair. She is for the most part, kind and considerate, like all the others. (They're all so nice Slide has a hell of a time trying to create conflict, generally it has to rely on the fabricated conceit that if you sleep with anyone, it is the equivalent of somehow betraying all your friends.) Which leads me to my next problem. The dialogue. Surprisingly this is probably one of Slide's greatest strengths, it's witty, quick and funny, reminiscent of a Diablo Cody movie, and deserves credit. The only thing is, all the characters speak the same. There's no differentiation between them, no trace of separate personalities. There's sassiness, certainly, but it's the same for them all. They all make the same glib, ironic, sarcastic remarks and pop culture references that eventually just get tired. In the end Slide is trying to imitate the success of skins, but understands none of the latter's subtlety and subversive complexity, not to mention beauty. Yes beauty, alright? Slide seems to think it's the height of entertainment to see teenagers dancing for five minutes, which it does a lot, i mean A lot. Whole sequences are filled with the 'slide 5' having pool parties, drinking on a rooftop, doing drugs in a playground or dancing at a concert. Slide seems to mis-understand the simple rule: watching other people have fun isn't fun.
