while every other social and ethnic group be deem off limit to filmmaker and one remain a target for cheap laugh represent preppies . from animal house and caddyshack ( the slob versus the snob ) to john hughes and savage steve holland and to more serious fare like six degree of separation and filmmaker have avail themselves of this last group of people they can target with a broad brush of easy scorn . which be one reason why whit stillman debut film and metropolitan and be so refreshing . by take a more sympathetic and inside look at a group of affluent east side manhattanites home from college and stillman make a case for an underlying core of goodness beneath the thurston and lovey veneer . make the foray into their world for u be tom townsend ( edward clements ) and literally and figuratively a red head stepchild in this world of privilege and have little money ( his big secret and which he guard carefully with the help of mass transit and be that he live on the west side ) and a defensiveness about his place in high society he manifest by adopt the stance of a disapproving socialist and though in reality he be more than a little too shallow to feel anything that deeply . the truth of townsend be immediately obvious to member of an upscale social set that call themselves the sally fowler rat pack and but they take him in anyway because he know their world and seem like a good audience . run the group be nick smith and who you can call a snob and as well a sexist and obnoxious and and of late and rather weird . just do not call him tiresome and or you will get an argument . nick be also a good guy beneath his preppie bluster and a fellow who champion tom and break down tom highminded resistance to join their circle with snarky logic ( you would rather stay at home and worry about the less fortunate and but have it ever occur to you you be the less fortunate . ) he also have real value he honor and sometimes at no small risk to his nose . chris eigeman play him with such panache you understand why stillman keep use him in his movie while eigeman delivery be a thing of wonder and especially with line that sound a mite too polish for instant expression . he can speak of his stepmother a a woman of untrammeled malevolence and make it sound like the most natural phrase in the world . another familiar face from stillman movie be taylor nichols and who play charlie black and who when we first see him be stumble through an explanation of why he believe in god and you do and too and even if you do not know it and and later on offer his own alternative definition of the preppie elite a the urban haute bourgeoisie and i. e. the uhb . be our language so impoverished that we have to resort to acronyms of french phrase . a woman ask . charlie more of a preppie snob in his dislike for tom and though a tom trifle mildly with the affection of a woman in their circle and audrey rouget ( carolyn farina ) and we understand charlie attitude . the movie be most fun a a platform for eigeman and nichols pithy one liner and and there be many great one and but the complex relationship between audrey and tom be what give the movie it plot and much of it interest . it bizarre how clements and farina vanish from the movie scene right after make their accomplished twin debut . farina and with her fetching dark eye and wry and timid smile remind one of molly ringwald at her pre pretty in pink peak . clements be good a a character that guard himself closely and with a scholarly front that fall apart fast . press on why he doesn not like jane austen mansfield park and tom admits he hasn not read it and just that he doesn not like it from read critical essay about it by lionel trill represent i do not read novel . i prefer good literary criticism that way you get both the novelist idea and the critic think . metropolitan be full of quote like that and the product of young people who think they know more than they do but aren not quite bad beneath their smugness . it not a film of great depth or revelation while stillman isn not so interested in dissect his creation a he be in give them room to express their idea and goofy and grand . his first film do exactly that and pull off the twin feat of have cinematic fun and give a preppie an even break .