Saturday 4 October 2014

Review: Clueless (1995)

At our last Flick Chicks movie night, after watching The Big Lebowski, Jenna demanded suggested that we watch Clueless, as I had never seen it before and this is apparently some sort of crime. I think we both felt a mixture of awe and confusion when my other half shouted from his man cave that even he had seen it. Whoops. I’d heard of it of course, but when, at 25 years of age, is it a good time to settle down and watch Clueless? Right then, it seems! I wouldn't say demanded so much as implied that we couldn't really be friends if you hadn't seen this movie...


Clueless is your typical, happy-go-lucky High School movie. Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and Dionne (Stacey Dash) are best friends and the most popular girls in school. Life is great for Cher and then Tai (Brittany Murphy) starts at the school, a clumsy hopeless girl who becomes a project for Cher to morph into a mini-me.  I dreamed of my own 'Cher' starting at my school and taking me under her wing and making me popular, unfortunately, I was destined to suffer my teen years as a loser! ha!

I just couldn’t stop myself from noticing the clothes each character was wearing. I can’t believe that it was all actually fashionable in the 90’s! Weirdly enough, Jenna and I went shopping the next day and found an outfit that would have fit amazingly well into the Clueless scene! Dionne’s hats were definitely something incredible to behold.  I loved the clothes when I saw this when I was younger, I desperately wanted Cher's wardrobe and her awesome 'dress me' computer programme!!

I still love this film mostly for nostalgia than for the brilliance of the film.  I love the characters and they found the perfect actors/actresses for each part and I love the wit and dry humour in the film.  It's fair to say as a kid A LOT of the joke went completely over my head, so it was almost like watching it for the first time :-)

The cast is brilliant, I loved them before I knew who they were (as I do now) and Cher will always be the ultimate popular girl, the only thing that let it down for me was the weird relationship between Cher and Josh, are they siblings or are they love interests - I think the whole sibling situation should have been avoided, it all just felt too awkward when it suddenly switched. 


Something that I really loved was the amount of actors and actresses that I know from recent films and TV shows that I had no idea were in this film! I can only describe them as Blair’s step dad, that guy from Garfield, and Paul Rudd. I can only wish that I’d seen this when I was younger so I could have discovered them sooner.

There are a lot of faces in this, some of which I had forgotten it had been that long since I watched it.  As I am currently watch Franklin and Bash, it was interesting to see Breckin Meyer as a greasy skateboarder with no prospects!

I wondered how much I was going to enjoy Clueless but it was really enjoyable, and funny! The story kept me entertained throughout and at no point did it get too cheesy. I’ve got to share this clip with you all, it really tickled me.




When I was younger I thought this film was the coolest and these people were everything I wanted to be, me and my best friend at school regularly used the terms 'Whatever' and 'Outtie' with the relevant hand gestures.  The worst thing was, we were being completely serious with it, not joking around!  Awkward!  But now when I watch it, I find it cheesy and cringeworthy in some places, I think age has  ruined this film for me somewhat :(

A thoroughly entertaining film that I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. If only I could go back in time to watch it when I should have done!

What seems like a typical high school movie, is a great cover for this really clever adaptation of Jane Austin's Emma.  If you haven't seen it, see it!! (even Allie's future husband has!!).  I think my higher score is a combination of love for the movie and nostalgia of my teen years!


2 comments:

  1. I love Clueless! I agree, watching it as a kid I found it funny, but never really got most of the jokes. But now that I do I love Clueless even more. As for the Cher and Josh thing, I guess they were trying to keep the whole Emma and Knightley thing. So they made Josh Cher's stepbrother who isn't really a stepbrother anymore since their parents divorced. So when you think about it they're not related by blood or law and much closer in age as opposed to Knightley and Emma with their 16 year age gap.
    Wandering through the Shelves

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one who missed all the jokes as a kid!!

      I knew this was based on Emma but don't know the original story that well but if the Cher/Josh thing is inkeeping with Emma then that explains it! Gotta love the blogging community for finding out new things :-)

      - Jenna

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