Clueless

Kmac:

Rewatching Clueless I was a little nervous. What if it didn’t live up to the memories I had of it. After all, for girls my age this is what we thought high school was. We all wanted to be Cher Horowitz at the end of the nineties driving a jeep, wearing mid drift tops, deciding what cute boy to date. I have to say I was far from disappointed and found a new appreciation for this movie.

I had read before that Clueless was based on Jane Austen’s Emma and you see the connection immediately. Cher is a girl so involved in meddling in the lives of others and dreaming of her perfect romance to see what is right in front of her. That the story is told in nineties LA style just makes it that much better. The whole movie is a nostalgia trip from the clothes and language, to just remembering watching it with friends. I once had a friend who told me insultingly and quoting the movie, “you’re a virgin, who can’t drive.” We were 11, and that line applied to all of us. Makes it funnier to hear it now. I still get major envy watching the clothes in this movie even though I have long passed the time I could wear them and they were long out of style by the time I could. It’s fun just to watch and shake your head at the faux fur craze that lead to fuzzy backpacks.

This movie is also fun for the actors and actresses who have had varying degrees of success since the movie. I watch Suburgatory on ABC and it took me forever to realise the Dad was Elton in this film. Or that Cher’s stepbrother is an adorable and young Paul Rudd. I was a little pretentious as a child and I always picked Paul Rudd’s smart and funny Josh. And the writing continues to be so distinct and of the era, if not defining the era. Whatever, as if, and a whole host of instantly quotable lines.

About the writer, Amy Heckerling also wrote Fast Times at Ridgemont High which defined the eighties, and you’ll probably hear about since it is one of Jmac’s comfort food movies, and she used that same ability here. Where Fast Times was sometimes dark and gritty, Clueless is light and fun. The difference between a burn out who can’t pass, and a burn out who likes skateboarding and Marvin the Martian. The difference between a movie where sex is graphically discussed and shown, and where sex is part of the conversation sure but never given the same amount of weight. This movie is Fast Times light and if you read enough of my reviews it’s quick to see that light and fun is where I like most of my movies.

Overall this was great to see again. If you have never seen and like “chick flicks” I highly recommend it. If you haven’t seen it in years it is time to dust it off. Grab your best girlfriend, some diet Coke, and bond over shoes. Cher would want it that way.

I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 trips to the mall.