Clueless
Amy Heckerling’s “Clueless” remains a hilarious reflection of its era because the structure she built her Valley Girl teen comedy on was a strong one. It’s funny to see “Clueless” again after some familiarity with Jane Austen’s Emma, and seeing how Heckerling’s insightful screenplay adapted elements of it that would work for the story she wants to tell with Cher. Cher is played by Alicia Silverstone, who should have been an Oscar nominee for her work. Point of fact, Heckerling’s script and Mona May’s costume design should have netted nominations, as well, but Silverstone is the engine that drives this bubbly, engaging comedy to its status as a classic. It’s a shame that neither her, nor her writer-director, managed to put it together again afterwards. It’s kind of baffling, as well.
Cher narrates her story. She’s the most popular kid at her school, and her gets decent grades. She lives with her lawyer father (played by the terrific Dan Hadaya, a fave of producer Scott Rudin’s at this time), and spends a lot of time hanging out with her best friend, Dionne (Stacy Dash) and choosing matching outfits. The thing that distinguishes Cher from a lot of movie high school “popular kids” is that, her heart is actually in the right place. Yes, she seems shallow and self-centered, she knows the cliques that form in high school (and considers herself at the top), but we see her with her father, their “help” and she doesn’t treat them like shit; she treats them like people. It’s one of the grace notes in the character that sets what Heckerling and Silverstone are building apart. Yes, she’s incredibly self-centered, as well, but that comes out more when it comes to her school environment. Cher is an endearing character, and more than just a collection of catch phrases and hip dialogue for the time.
It’s interesting to rewatch the film now, and see the ways it diverts from Austen’s story. Emma is a matchmaker almost by trade in the original work; here, Cher’s matchmaking has more to do with advantageous necessity than anything. When it comes to Mr. Wendell Hall (Wallace Shawn) and Miss Toby Geist (Twink Caplan), it’s a means to an end, as she tries to improve her grades through Hall’s self-esteem- she thinks love will do the trick. She has issues with Dionne’s pairing with Murray (Donald Faison), but she does see the societal acceptance of the match. With new student Tai (the late Brittany Murphy), she sees someone she might be able to mold in her image, and thus, make popular instead of an outcast. That means steering her away from someone like the stoner skateboarder Travis (Breckin Meyer) and maybe more into someone like Elton (Jeremy Sisto), who has his own eyes on Cher. But like Emma, Cher is blind to her own romantic interests until someone like Christian (Justin Walker) enters the picture- there’s a slight problem with that, though. The most tangible chemistry she has with a man is her step-brother (Josh, played by Paul Rudd), which, well, you know what that means for the third act if you’re familiar with Austen.
Heckerling has predominantly be working in TV in the 25 years since “Clueless,” and I truly don’t know what happened. Granted, her follow-up feature, “Loser,” landed like a lead balloon, but how the director of two of the most iconic teen comedies ever made (the other one being “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”) has not had another notable feature to her name since is disappointing, to say the least, although it’s also a sign of the times, I think. Teen comedies had another wave after “Clueless,” but they have not really been en vogue since the late 1990s. It’s be fun to see if Heckerling could make the cinematic side of the genre pop again after so long, and make it matter to audiences in a way she was able to do in the ’80s and ’90s. Few filmmakers have shown themselves as adept at identifying with youth.
