Plot: What’s it about?
As if?
“Clueless” is now ten years old and it’s a movie that I’d originally vowed never to watch. Why? At the time (ten years ago) I was sick of Alicia Silverstone, she was in every damn Aerosmith video – which actually only ended up to be three – and all over my TV. Man, I’m glad our obsession with celebrities is a thing of the past…oh wait – never mind. Nevertheless, I held firm on my commitment to not watch “Clueless” even when the first DVD came out a few years back. But as I got older I have less and less time to hold true to the “vows” I made ten years ago. Long story short, I now live in a world where I have watched “Clueless” – and the result? Not bad, a tad dated and very inferior to “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” but its amazing how the movie eerily predicted some of the fads of the future (cell phone, anyone)? I have to admit that Silverstone was perfect for the part of Cher; and evidently Director Amy Heckerling cast her off her appearance on one of those Aerosmith videos. Ok, so that’s all said and done and now the general public knows my history with this movie. What’s it all about?
Silverstone plays Cher Horowitz, a spoiled brat living with her lawyer father (Dan Hedaya) in Beverly Hills. Cher is fashion conscious, so much so that she has a computer program to pick out her outfits for her. She’s shallow, popular and yet frustratingly single. Her best friend, Dionne (Stacy Dash), is just like her and the two walk around their school like they own the place. Cher likes boys, but she hasn’t found that right one yet. On the other hand Dionne is one of those girls who’s in a constant fight with her boyfriend (Donald Faison), sometimes in public and sometimes not. The duo become a trio when they decide to adopt newcomer Tai (Brittany Murhpy), a post-grunge girl in desperate need of a makeover. Cher tries to set Tai up with Elton (Jeremy Sisto) although she bonds with Travis (Breckin Meyer)…typical teenage confusion sets in and mixed signals abound. The plot thickens when Josh (Paul Ruud) enters the picture. Josh is Cher’s step brother (and they make a point to say that they’re not related, this becomes pretty important later on), older and bit wiser and Tai has a thing for him.
“Clueless” doesn’t have a linear plot line in the sense that most movies do. Along the lines of “Fast Times…” it’s more of a series of events that ultimately end up in most everyone getting what they want. Now that a decade has passed, most of the cast has grown up and is still acting in movies. Alicia Silverstone isn’t quite the name she was then, but names like Brittany Murphy, Jeremy Sisto and Paul Ruud are still very abundant in Hollywood today. I can’t say that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, it seemed a bit dated; much like all the other teen movies out there. One that has managed to stand the test of time is “Dazed and Confused”. By making the movie in the 90’s but set in the 70’s, it’s really hard to say the movie has a dated look to it. “Clueless” certainly isn’t a bad movie, the acting is so-so, with this being Silverstone’s big break (she’d previously been in a few movies, but “The Crush” is the only one that really comes to mind) she went onto a few other big projects. The movie has a big following and no doubt fans will be thrilled by this “Whatever” edition.
Video: How does it look?
“Clueless” looks pretty good it’s 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The anamorphic image looks bright and vivid, though there are some spots where the movie looked ten years old (and the point of DVD is to make movies look as good as they can, so…). Flesh tones seemed warm and natural and there was a little bit of edge enhancement during some of the outdoor scenes. I found the print to be clean and void of most artifacts, but a few of the scenes seemed a bit dingy for my taste. On the whole, it’s a good-looking transfer and nothing to complain about but I’ve seen older movies look much better.
Audio: How does it sound?
There is a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and a Dolby Surround and I really couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Dialogue is very clean and natural-sounding and the general ambiance is on a good level. I will say that I was disappointed by the soundtrack, which I figured would rock – it didn’t. While teen comedies aren’t really supposed to sound like they’d blow the roof off the place, I guess I was expecting a bit more here. I’ve never seen the movie before, but I’m assuming that this is the best it’s ever sounded.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This “Whatever” edition certainly has a lot more packed on the disc than the previous version, though it’s mainly featurettes coupled with a few theatrical trailers. First off Heckerling doesn’t provide a commentary track, which would have been almost a given considering she’s interviewed for some of the featuettes. Oh well. We start off with a “Class of ’95 Reunion” which features most of the major stars from the movie then and now. I have to say that most look just about the same except for the “Christian” character. He’s about 75 pounds heavier and I wouldn’t think someone could age that much in a decade. “Creative Writing” talks about how Writer/Director Amy Heckerling came up with the idea and she compares and contrasts it with “Fast Times…”. This is pretty interesting and we can see that she’s both a talented writer and director. “Fashion 101” just that – a look at how the outfits were created for the movie and the effect they had on the general public as well. “Language Arts” is kind of lame in that they wax philosophical on how the verbage in the movie created a “cultural phenomenon”. Ok, what-ever! If you missed it, the game “Suck and Blow” in the movie looked fun and they give you a tutorial on how to do it. It’s pretty easy, but don’t be like me and try it on any woman in the street – they slap guys for doing that. Finally “We’re History” are some stories from the set about the movie. Two theatrical trailers are included as well. I don’t think my life would have been too terribly different had I seen “Clueless” when it came out in theaters, but it’s not that bad. As mentioned above, “Clueless” is a rather decent movie and I’m sure it’s got a large cult following.
