Jackson Cooper
    Staff Writer

What’s the new chic for twentysomethings? Is it still ‘90s grunge? At one time, 1950s teenager was in, minus pantsuits and—you know, the whole conservative abstinence until marriage mindset. Women dominate over men when new trends become ‘chic,’ they lead the pack like a lipstick-hungry group of wolves. How could they not? They have better taste in clothing than men. It’s true.

The new chic in Whit Stillman’s “The Last Days of Disco” is in its title. Though the movie is set in the late 1990s, the hip, young leading ladies (Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny) lead the revolution of keeping disco alive through adventures to one of the last surviving clubs in New York.

Their lives are similar to those of the characters’ on HBO’s “Girls”: full of privilege they are unaware of, throwaway discussions about the political nature of Disney films and, most importantly, who will take them home. But Alice and Charlotte aren’t looking for love. Just fun. Right?

“The Last Days of Disco” is a movie that is easily relatable, even though some of us may approach disco with the same hesitation we have when our parents insist on taking prom photos in front of every tree in the yard. The movie is all about people fresh out of college trying to keep it cool while not really having everything figured out.

For instance, towards the end of the movie, one character asks another, “Why are you marrying? I thought we said we weren’t going to marry any guys until we were—like 30?”

“I don’t know why,” the other replies. “Why not?”

This is a conversation (sans the marriage vow) we may have had with our friends at some point.

What writer-director Whit Stillman does is examine how different people, unaware of the crazy things they are saying, respond to life’s biggest questions with passive aggressive jabs at one another. This is not a dysfunctional friend movie; these characters are too smart to even realize when they are being ridiculed.

It’s like that kid in your class who is so smart, he’s gullible. You know him? This movie is filled with those characters, a fine yet select group of people to spend the evening with.

One of the only two characters who seem grounded in the world of common sense and logic is Alice, who observes her friends and their decisions to live the sweet life, even when their lives may not be as figured out as they make it.

The film is a hilarious and entertaining one about how “the other half lives,” meaning those people who, at 24, think that they are debutantes and heiresses because they are staying cool and hip through their music and lifestyle choices.

They drink often while complaining about how much money they spend on going out. They fantasize about writing the next great American novel. They want to marry rich but stay single their whole lives — let’s face it, “The Last Days of Disco” is about hipsters.

Where this lies different from other “buddy-prep” movies (“Clueless,” “Rushmore,” “Pretty in Pink”), “Last Days of Disco” is one of the funniest movies of the last two decades and all too relevant to college students’ lives. The men the women meet and eventually fall for are wanna-be-intellectuals, people who talk a big game to sound smart but, when questioned, don’t know what they’re talking about. Much like those people we meet who always agree with, “Oh yeah, I read that somewhere, yeah I agree.” Do you really? Do you?

Indeed, this is truly a worthy purchase. The film is a well-made Cosmopolitan—sweet and a bit bitter, but you can’t help but to enjoy yourself while you take it all in. You may need two viewings because you’ll be enjoying yourself too much the first time to catch everything.