Plot: What’s it about?
It’s the last day of school in 1976, and all the high school kids in a small Texas town are looking to cash in on their first big night of summer. Some chase down freshman for iniation paddlings, some try to score the big kegger, and others just want a piece of the old poontang pie. The seniors reflect on their old glory days, and wonder what life will be like after high school, the football players discuss next year’s season, and some people just get drunk and hope they never see school again. The movie focuses in on several different groups, who do various things throughout the night, but all meet up at the same kegger out in the woods. No real plot to discuss, other than the movie allows us to see what each little group does to make the night special and memorable.
This movie is alright, but overbased on alcohol and drug use. Now, I realize that these things are abundant in high school, but come on, where do these kids get all this money? The movie draws many comparisons to another film entitled “The Stoned Age”, and I feel TSA surpasses Dazed and Confused in ever aspect, including realism, which is key in these teen flicks. The characters in this film are hard to relate to, as they all seem like popular people, I mean, where are the nerds, the people everyone laughed at? Granted, the movie only looks at the drug using, football playing, leg-spreading high schoolers, so I didn’t expect it, but that’s why this movie was such a disappointment for me. But I’m not saying the movie isn’t worth a watch, because it is, just on fun factor. But there are other movies out there (The Stoned Age, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club) which are more fun to watch, with more realistic characters. Dazed and Confused looks and sounds like a movie made in the 90’s, no effort was made to make it feel like the 70’s.
The cast in this movie is pretty good, besides looking 5-10 years too old for the characters they play. A hilarious performance by Matthew McConaughey, as an aging hipster, high-lights the movie for me. “That’s what I like about these high school girls. I keep gettin’ older, but they stay the same age.” That quote is worth the rental alone. Also making appearances are Ben Affleck, Lauren Adams, Milla Jojovich, Jason London, Shawn Andrews, and my favorite, Parker Posey. So, I know I was hard on this picture, but I feel it gets a lot of undue praise, as other movies run circles around it. But hey, it’s a fun movie to watch, so don’t take my word for it, check it out, and find out for yourself.
Video: How does it look?
Pretty clear all the way through, even in the dark, sparsley lit night scenes. Little grain or artifacting, and overall a good picture. Not anamorphic, but decent enough.
Audio: How does it sound?
The 2.0 Dolby Digital soundtrack is the same as the old laserdisc, in fact pretty much everything is the same as the laserdisc. Sound is good, all channels are used, but with a movie like this, with such a great musical soundtrack, 5.1 would be nice.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Cast/Crew Bios, Production Notes. Hmmm…I thought it said EXTRAS!
