 I once read that John Hughes, the undisputed
master of the teen movie, stated in an interview that he stopped
making films because he no longer understood today’s
generation. What saddened me even more was when I realized
it was my generation he was talking about -- teens of the
‘90s. After some thought, I realized that I didn’t
understand them either, and I was amongst them from 7-3 each
day.
Here
we are in 2005 and it has been years since I left that high
school environment. In retrospect, I don’t think Hughes
lost the understanding of teenagers as much as he did the
desire to make films about them. After all, do teenagers ever
really change? Aren’t the core attractions that teens
seek still ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll'? Soundtracks
and fashion aside, doesn't every single one of us relate equally
to Dazed and Confused, The Breakfast
Club, and Empire Records? I think
we do, which is what explained the success of the very Hughes-like Clueless, which could be the most ‘80s
film made years after the ‘80s faded away.
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This shouldn’t be surprising. The film shares the same
director as Fast Times at Ridgemont High and features a soundtrack that features a lot of ‘80s
tunes (or at least covers of them). But what separates it
most from the other teen films of the time is that it painted
a pretty picture. There was a lot of gloom and doom in ‘90s
films, but Clueless paints a Crayola landscape
with a sparkling lip-gloss sky. I remember during
the film’s release how adamantly I was against it, and
it was because of just that very reason. Me and my shoulder-length
hair were still emotionally detached, and far too concerned
with mourning the death of Kurt Cobain than the bubblegum
fancy of the high schools of Beverly Hills. But when there
was nothing new left to see when hanging at the multiplex,
it was either Clueless, or listen to a bunch
of poseurs fake how stoned they were. Clueless it was. It isn’t probably the first film you would think
of as being a life-changer, but Clueless actually did change quite a bit about how I looked at life
and film. The most important lesson: Teen movies don’t
have to suck. Somehow I don’t think I would have learned
the same lesson had I bought a ticket to Free Willy
2.
The plot really doesn’t need much discussion, because
it is ultra light. Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and her friend
Dionne (Stacey Dash) are two of the most popular girls in
their school. Tai (Brittany Murphy, in her breakout role)
is the frumpy new girl that transfers into school and Cher
takes it upon herself to make the  ugly-duckling
shine. Meanwhile, her luck in love is fleeting, but she is
playing matchmaker to everyone she meets… That’s
it… With a plot not even half as deep as Jane Austen’s
novel Emma, from which it borrows liberally, ‘featherweight’
would be a fair description. But for a film whose name is
a synonym for being without ideas, the script is one of the
smartest ever for its target demographic. Like Valley
Girl, it faithfully uses the regional vernacular,
and like Ferris Bueller, the film is narrated
by its main character in a tone that is entirely conversational,
but not direct. It’s as if the story is being told to
you by a friend at a party. Clueless is a
movie about its convincing characters, and with any ensemble
film, the believability of those characters are the most important
thing. If you went to high school in the ‘90s, you will
believe in Cher because you already knew her.
 This
was Alicia Silverstone’s vehicle all the way. She is
the focus and she really does shine as an actress. You should
already know that by her amazing body of work! Films like… Batman & Robin… Excess
Baggage… Alicia, baby, what the hell happened?
So much promise, and yet so ‘totally clueless’
about script selection. In all seriousness, it is about time
that she comes back in a real good role. She was great in Clueless, and had such potential. The real
surprise breakthrough was Brittany Murphy. Who would have
thought that the thick-accented Jersey girl would have made
it so big? Brittany was in Sin City, Alicia
was in Scooby-Doo 2. Fate does like to throw
those interesting curve balls now and then.
Presentation
Clueless is, like TOTALLY anamorphic, which is awesome in every way.
I found no problems whatsoever with the transfer. Overall,
it is solid and colorful. Fans will not be disappointed. Audio
is great; the mix really stands out in the party scenes. The
soundtrack itself is very danceable and every word is clearly
audible. Mixes are DD 5.1 and 2.0 and also French 2.0. Sacre
bleu! Subtitles are available in English and Spanish. Sadly,
I can’t compare this to the previous release as I have
been waiting most patiently for this edition.
 Extras
Advertised to have “more
bling” (don’t EVEN go there. NO-one used
the phrase “bling” in 1995!) We get a lot of fluff,
but the movie is fluff, so why would anyone expect otherwise?
The Class of ’95 – (18:29)
This is a typical featurette on the cast. There are interviews
with the director, and on-the-set interviews with the cast,
most of it is pandering to why the actors are so perfect for
their roles. There are interesting facts though. Stacy Dash’s
character Dionne was 17; she was 28 at the time of filming.
Damn. It is a fun featurette, for what its worth.
Creative Writing – (9:38) This is the story
about the conception of the film. This is a more interesting
and better focused piece. This is essentially Amy Heckerling’s
bit as she wrote and directed it. There is also brief mention
of how she got down the linguistics.
Fashion 101 – (10:46) A favorite piece for
me, since I really dig fashion. Mona May, the clothing designer
for the film talks about where she got her ideas and the designers
that she used. Fun stuff if you are into fashion, and surprisingly
in-depth.
Language Arts – (8:08) A fun primer on all
the idioms and slang that is used throughout the entire film.
But I think anyone that lived through the era will know what
is being said though. What is most interesting is how much
slang actually did come from this movie.
 Suck
‘N Blow: A Tutorial – (2:47) Super fluff.
A demonstration on how to play the Suck ‘N Blow game
played in the movie. Like, did we really need this
feature? As if!
Drivers Ed – (3:49) How did they shoot the
freeway scene? Like, do I care?
We’re History – (8:50) A nice recap
of the film’s history. Amy looks back on the movie and
discusses its success and and movies in general . The cast
chimes in on what they liked about the film, and random memories
of filming. The only thing that would make this better would
have been new footage with Alicia, she must have been busy
doing… never mind. She could have showed up dammit.
Trailers - Both the teaser (1:56 fullscreen) and
the theatrical trailer (2:35 widescreen), YAY!
Fine
It has now been over a decade
since my fateful first screening. (God-DAMN I’m getting
old.) Aside from references to The Cranberries, watching episodes
of Beavis and Butt-head and a live performance
by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the film ages extremely well,
just like most of the memorable teen films from the prior
decade. Need proof? Well if Clueless is the Sixteen Candles of the 1990s, Mean
Girls is the Clueless of the 2000s. Everything’s
cyclical and nothing is wrong with that. Paramount has released
a bang-up DVD which can easily replace the original barebones
package. You are not likely to ever see a better release of
this film. That, combined with it being the most infinitely
replayable film of the 1990s, makes this DVD a must-have for
your collection.
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