What do you do when it’s cold and raining outside? you could go out and get wet, or you could stay in, curl up on the settee and watch a goodie but an oldie DVD, and that’s what I did, I decided to watch the ultimate chick-flick, the film that all other chick-flicks try but fail to be like, one of my favourite films of all time Clueless.
Clueless is based on the novel Emma by Jane Austen, but it has been brought bang up to date with a Beverley Hills 90210 feel. Cher, played by Alicia Silverstone, is extremely rich and lives in a huge mansion in Beverley Hills with her lawyer father played by Dan Hedaya, her mother died from a routine liposuction operation! Cher’s best friend is Dionne, played by Stacey Dash, together they are the most popular girls at Bronson Alcott High School.
At the very beginning of this film, you can tell what a privileged life Cher leads, she wakes up in her huge bed, goes to her wardrobe to pick out her clothes for the day, but, this is no ordinary wardrobe, it’s actually a computer which picks out her clothes for her and tells her whether the clothes she wants to wear will match or not, this girl is actually living out my dream with all these clothes!
Everything in Cher’s life is going perfectly until she gets her report card from school, she hasn’t done as well as she expected, so she does what everybody wishes they could do, she makes up excuses to get the teachers to higher her grade, however
there is one flaw in her plan, her debate teacher Mr Hall, played by Wallace Shawn, he refuses to higher her grade, so being the matchmaker that she is she sets him up with another teacher Miss Geist, played by Twink Caplan, this plan works and all the students begin to love Cher even more as everybody has received higher grades and no homework.
Also at school there is a new girl Tai, played by a very young looking Brittany Murphy, looking at her in this film she looks nothing like she does now, anyway, Tai has just moved to Beverley Hills and is ‘crying out for a makeover’, so who is on hand to do this? Cher and Dionne of course, they give her a totally new, funky look which has everybody staring at her including a nerdy skateboard kid called Travis. Cher tries to set her up with some of the cooler boys at school including a snob called Elton "don't you know you my father is?", but he doesn’t want to know as he has a crush on Cher, there is a hilarious scene at a party where Cher is trying to make Elton notice Tai and a girls shoe flies across the room and hits Tai right in the middle of the head, if you look at Alicia Silverstone’s face you can see that she is actually trying really hard not to laugh!
As Cher’s school life is getting better, her personal life begins to get worse, as her step brother Josh comes to stay with her whilst he is at university. Josh is played by the gorgeous Paul Rudd (he’s the one who got married to Phoebe in friends), he is training to become a lawyer and is constantly on to Cher about how she never uses her popularity for any good use, and the only thing she is good for is shopping, however, whenever Cher gets into any trouble Josh is always there to help her out, for example when Cher was mugged and was made to ruin her dress whilst she was at a party in the valley he picked her up, and he also helps her with her driving as she has her test soon, the chemistry on screen between these two is brilliant, you can tell they had a really good time taking the mickey out of each other.
Cher makes it quite clear at the beginning of the film that unlike Dionne who is dating Murray, she will never date a guy from school, but then a new Baldwin (meaning good-looking guy) called Christian starts school, and she finally thinks that this guy could be the one, however, after a huge amount of flirting, partying, and cooking for him, Murray informs her that he is gay, and as Dionne says ‘the boy can dress, and he does like to shop!’. Whilst all this is happening Tai begins to take a fancy to Josh, Cher can’t understand why she is so jealous, she has a lot on her mind and because of this she fails her driving test, to take her mind off the situation she does what any normal girl would and goes shopping, whilst she is out she realises that the one thing she wants most is right under her nose.
This film is funny, it has hilarious one liners that will have you laughing from start to finish, and as this film was made in 1995 you still find yourself repeating them 8 years later “whatever” and “that is soooo last season”. This film also has some of the most memorable scenes ever including my worst nightmare, falling down the stairs coming into a party which is what Tai did, or Cher standing in line to hit a tennis ball complaining that she ‘hasn’t even worked off the calories in a stick of calorie controlled gum’!, and Cher seeing Amber at a party wearing the same dress she was wearing yesterday “do you prefer fashion victim or ensemble challenged?”
Alicia Silverstone delivers a fantastic and fresh performance, and she really has you believing that people do actually lead this sort of life. They made a television programme of this which was shown on SMTV a couple of years ago, it had all the original characters including Dionne, Amber and Murray, but Cher was played by somebody else and she didn’t quite live up to Alicia’s standards.
This film is rated a 12, but it has no bad language in it, so it is suitable to watch with the whole family. I bought this DVD in the HMV sale a couple of months ago for £7.99, although you can buy it from other shops but it may cost you a bit more. I think Cher would have been proud that I bagged such a bargain, as this film is timeless, funny, and has the best wardrobe you will ever see in any other film, it’s definitely a classic.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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never thought of it in the same light as emma before - but thinking about it now....!!! great review!! mair x
s_jones_2003 05.07.2004 19:02
What a fantastic film this is, a true classic and even though it's a little dated now it never looses it's appeal! Thanks for the rating on my Legally Blonde op too! Sarah x
TheChocolateLady 03.07.2004 17:59
I do believe that this review could have benefitted from less of the story and more analysis. Since we know this movie is a modern version of Emma, you might have shown where you thought this adaptation worked and where it didn't. Just a thought.
Advantages: Makes you laugh no matter WHAT type of mood you're in, takes the mick out of shallow girls. Disadvantages: ???? I can't think of any- oh I don't have a copy!!!!
silvajade 07.07.2004 (07.07.2004)
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Review of Clueless (DVD)
Jul 2nd, 2004
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