Directed by Ben Stiller and written by Helen Childress, Reality Bites was marketed as a romantic comedy, a Gen-X The Big Chill or a grunge-era Friends . But beneath the flannel shirts, the Dunkaroos, and the looping soundtrack of The Knack’s "My Sharona," the film was a smart, sometimes scathing examination of the terrifying transition from the safety of college to the harsh unpredictability of adulthood.