I should point out that I completely agree with ebeaman about Harmony Korine being a very valuable filmmaker. I just don't think that cancels out anything Payne has done; in my mind, Alexander Payne and Harmony Korine have very little to do with one another, and I would go see anything either of them released.
I should remember being a 17-year-old, too, though... how each new revelation or discovery for yourself feels like the beginning and end of everything all at once, and it almost demands a target for comparison, "THIS means everything, this is the right way, while this OTHER is nothing!", etc. It's just a reckless, schizophrenic time, before you get your big frame of reference. But I do appreciate that you're in there developing that frame of reference, ebeaman. I had certainly never seen anything by Harmony Korine when I was 17. Actually, when I was 17, Harmony Korine was still completely unknown... The most "edgy" thing I saw when I was 17 was A Clockwork Orange.