Clueless

Rating:
Summary: There is no plot!!!
Review: I am a movie watcher and I'll see just about anything out there. I must say, I have never gotten up and walked out on a movie before, but I guess there's always a first. There is no plot throughout this movie except for the trivial 'living life'. I have never felt this bored about a movie ever, sitting through it, there was no feeling of wanting to see what was next, probably attributed to the lack of plot. I got probably an hour into the movie when it struck me that I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to find out how the story plays itself out, how the movie ends.

I guess this movie has a small targetted group that finds this such a marvel of a hit, but for the other 99.97% of us, be very cautious.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't even deserve this one star
Review: After reading all the gushing but vacuous reviews, I finally have had enough. How can you even declare this piece of crap a must-see film? Like, how dare you acclaim this film? Grrr. It saddens me to see a whole bunch of the teen population even waste their time over this abomination. First of all, I just would like to say that I am a seventeen-year-old girl who thinks feminism is all about Joan of Arc, Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, the Bronte sisters, Florence Nightingale, and many more, who made huge individual differences in this world. Compared with Cher, the babe of Hollywood, the girl who can't even think of herself...need I say any more? This movie... is a nightmare. I don't even know why it grates on my nerves so much, but then again on second thought, perhaps it's because this nerve-wracking mess undermines female power. Now, basically, the teen population thinks female power is all about arguing your dimwitted teachers into giving you a higher grade, possess the oh-so-amazing ability to find soulmates for your lost friends, plagiarizing Shakespeare's work (and may I add that the teacher didn't even know who that poem was written by), using Daddy's credit card, not having the common sense to drive with a license, etcetera. Pathetic. The plot itself is boring, unstructured, delivers bad one-liners, and just plain irritating. Is it just me, or did anyone else notice that before this mess was made, we had TERRIFIC teen movies, such as Dirty Dancing, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adventures in Babysitting, etc, which made a huge splash? Now, after Clueless, we have Drive Me Crazy, She's All That, Idle Hands, Whatever it Takes, Drop Dead Gorgeous...I rest my case. I'm glad that I spoke out, and have had an emotional catharsis. Ciao-- and, oh, before I go: I'll make sure that if I ever get the chance to get both the video and DVD, I'll burn them both and sacrifice them to the god of materialism. I pray you do the same thing, too.

Rating:
Summary: Best comedy and teen movie ever!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I have memorized every line of this film. I may watched all teenager films of Hollywood. But this is the besT!!!This movie made me fall in love with Stacey Dash and Alicia Silverstone. They tried to make many movies like Clueless...BUT CLUELESS ROCKS!!!!!!!Ot is thebest.. i guaranteeeeeeee.. buy it you wont be sorryyyy

Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: In a word....horrible. That is all i have to say.

Rating:
Summary: CLUELESS ROCKS
Review: I think that this movie is one of the best movies i've ever seen. It is a classic, every teenage girl wants to look like her and everyone definatley wants that wardrobe! And if you just saw the cover you'd think, this story obviously has no story line! but it does, there's a clear story line and it's very well done. I think alica silverstone is a wonderful cher and she really gets into her character i really really love this movie and i think it is a must see for all teenage girls

Rating:
Summary: Easy to like
Review: Director Amy Heckerling knows a thing or two about high school flicks, having directed the highly successful "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". Heckerling put her talents to work thirteen years later for the next generation of high schoolers, writing and directing this hilarious satire of life at Beverly Hills H.S. Heckerling takes a different approach from "Fast Times", which found its comedy in the absurdity of reality, depicting situations into which teenagers really get themselves. Here Heckerling's comedy mostly comes from mocking the superficiality of the high school "in-crowd". While this is not the first time this has been done, few have ever done it with such blistering wit. This film became the standard for a spate of 1990's high school flicks set on the west coast that borrowed many of its elements.

The story focuses on Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), who is the most popular girl at Beverly Hills H.S. Cher seems to be a superficial airhead, but this belies her conniving and manipulative skills at getting what she wants. Superficial yes, airhead no! In a plot derived in part from Jane Austen's "Emma", Cher works behind the scenes to arrange love matches between various students. She even orchestrates a relationship between two teachers to improve their moods so they don't grade so harshly. Like Emma, she is a master of love for everyone but herself.

Heckerling does a fantastic job of presenting what seems to be a cotton candy story with lightweight characters, but which really runs much deeper, revealing subtle truths about human nature. Her direction of the fledgling cast is superb, milking every ounce of comedy out of each scene.

Silverstone sparkles in the role, which is probably not far from a reality with which she is very familiar. She actually attended Beverly Hills H.S. with co-star Breckin Meyer, although she didn't graduate due to career commitments (she received a G.E.D.). This film catapulted her to teen prominence with two MTV movie awards and an American Comedy Award as funniest actress in a leading role. She plays Cher with both arrogance and vulnerability, and her comic timing is impeccable. She also has a knack for physical comedy, with a broad range of contorted facial expressions and amusing use of body language. The rest of the teen cast is also great, especially Brittany Murphy as Tai and Breckin Meyer as Travis. Dan Hedaya is also priceless as Cher's work obsessed attorney father.

This film is easy to like. It is a light and funny spoof, but it still has nuance. I rated it an 8/10. For those who enjoy high school comedies, this is required viewing.

Rating:
Summary: Get A Clue
Review: Jeff Sweet Get A Clue Clueless, a modern day version of the story Emma, by Jane Austen, was a film about a young girl growing up in an up class Beverly Hills high school. Cher, Alicia Silverstone, was a girl that started off very immature and selfish. During the film Cher also went from being very popular to not so popular. At the end she was finally enlightened and grew up. Cher was the average "miss popular" everyone has experienced in high school. She was very self-conscious and worried what people thought of her. She also hung out with only the cool kids at school. An example of her selfishness was when she tried to hook up two of her teachers because she had gotten bad grades in one of their classes. She believed if she hooked them up, they would become happy and give her a good grade. The whole time she put on the front that she was really doing it for them, but in reality, she was doing it for herself. She was also very mean to other kids that didn't meet her standards. Tai, one of Cher's new friends had a crush on a skateboarder; he wasn't cool so Cher tried to hook Tai up with someone who was. It turned out that the guy didn't even like Tai and was a real jerk while the skateboarder was very kind to her. For the first part of the movie, Cher was the most popular girl in her School. Tai, her other friend, was not. She started of kind of like a scrub. During the downfall of Cher's popularity, Tai was becoming more popular. There was one specific scene when Tai was talking to a group of people about her near death experience at the mall and all the people there paid no attention to Cher. Another thing that was upsetting Cher was her Ex-stepbrother, Josh, was spending a lot of time with Tai and Cher was getting very jealous. At this point Cher finally realized something had to be done. What she did was she grew up. She figured out that she had a crush on Josh and needed to stop being selfish. An example of not being selfish was when her high school had a day when they excepted donations to give to a third world country. Cher donated everything from her clothes to her snow skis. She also started being nice to everyone, not just her cool friends. The final act that proved she really had matured was she went with Tai to watch that skateboarder in a contest. After that, Tai and the Skater hooked up and Cher had no problem with it and was even happy for Tai. Clueless was a very funny film that had a lesson behind it. The lesson was not to judge people and be kind to everyone. In the beginning of the movie Cher was a snotty selfish high school girl. In the middle of the film she lost her popularity and realized she needed to change. At the end, she finally grew up, stopped judging people, and got a "clue".

Rating:
Summary: My Thoughts on Clueless
Review: All around I enjoyed watching this movie. It is one of those movies that you can watch without putting much thought into it. When I first heard about this movie I had no idea that it would end up being a movie about love. The way that all the couples end up with each other and how they get there is rather amusing. I think the casting in this film was excellent. Alicia Silverstone does a superb job portraying the character Cher. I found it humorous how Cher comes across as the stereotypical Beverly Hills ditzy blonde but as the movie goes on we see that she is just a normal teenage girl. She gets good grades, cares for her friends and father, and is an all-around good girl. The way Cher seems to care more about everyone else's love life more than her own adds a little bit more to the story. Then when Christian comes into the picture she starts to worry about her love life a little bit more. Then when he is found out to be gay she goes back to not caring about her own love life. I like how when she tries to get a boyfriend it does not work out and it is not until she stops worrying about Christian and her that she finds a guy to love. I had seen Clueless before I watched the story of Emma and did not realize that it was the same story line. It was when I watched Clueless another time after seeing Emma that I realized it. If you enjoyed Clueless then I would highly recommend seeing Emma. I think it really made the story of Clueless more interesting. I also got a kick out of comparing the characters and scenes in the two different films. All around I think seeing Emma enhanced Clueless for me. Clueless is just a fun movie to watch, not only for the story line and humorous points but I also got a kick out of all the stereotypes. We see this right away in the beginning whn Cher goes to school in the morning. While Cher is narrating for us she tells us about the different cliques and who hangs out in that certain crowd. Another part that made me feel all warm inside was when Cher accepts Travis and he becomes 'good enough' for Tai. Another thing I liked was that the events that took pace between the friends seemed realistic. Some of the events might have been overdone, like the shopping factor, but the fights and how they were real close was realistic. One very realistic scene was the party at Travis' house. I enjoyed this scene because it depicted what high school parties look like and what goes on at them. I think that everybody can find a little bit of them self in at least one character from this movie. Even if it is in just a minor way, or even how you are with your friends and the things you do with them. This helps audiences to relate to the film better and therefore enjoy it more.

Rating:
Summary: An Aptly Named Movie
Review: As a modern day adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Emma, Clueless is the story of a Beverly Hills teen who lets her desire to help others cover up her own unhappiness. Cher, nicely played by Alicia Silverstone, is a cell-phone swinging spoiled teen of a wealthy Beverly Hills attorney who believes she holds the key to the happiness of those around her. From the job she does hooking up two of her teachers, to the attention she gives the new girl in school, Tai, Cher spends the major portion of this movie attempting to help those around her, but completely ignores her own lonliness and inner turmoil. She truly is clueless, but she is also able to eventually moderate her self-sacrificing ways and finds love.

The plot to this movie is rather thin. The major portion of the film is spent engrossing the viewer in the lives of affluent Beverly Hills teens. A viewer is invited to dislike Cher and her friends and dismiss them as shallow and self serving, but instead a feeling of understanding is invoked. The director, Amy Heckerling, is able to show the excess of these teen's lives and ridicule their manners and speech, but their good nature and ignorance allows a viewer to grow to like Cher and her schoolmates.

The central plot of the film concerns the escapades of Cher as she searches for meaning in her life by meddling in the lives of others. Cher begins by matching two of teachers in a romantic relationship. She may have felt that her grade in debate would rise if her teacher got some "major boinking", but the fact that the two teachers actually fall in love, and are consequently married at the end of the film, overshadows the interference Cher had been quilty of. Cher recieved her better grade and helped two lonely people find happiness.

Cher also steps in to help a new girl in her class. Cher realized the girl did not fit into the stylish world of Beverly Hills and decides to take a personal hand in her conversion. After a quick make-over and some social lessons, Tai is the toast of the school and she is very happy and comfortable in this situation. This demonstrates another instance that Cher brings happiness to others, and this fact seems to outweigh the the meddling and interference that Cher had to use to create this desirable situation.

Cher's loving generous nature is also demonstrated in her relationship with her father. She had lost her mother when she was very young, and had put herself in the role of looking after her father. She tells him to eat better, packs his suitcases when he has to travel for business, and generally checks out for his general welfare. Cher again puts others happiness before her own. This helps to develop her sense of being clueless. She never actually considers her own needs or desires.

The situation comes to a head when Cher realizes that she herself is very unhappy and missing something in her own life, but no one fixes her situation as she does for others. After some soul searching, she decides to give her soul a makeover. This allows her to realize her sub-consious feelings for her ex-step brother, and allows her to fill the void in her own life and experience love.

Cher does the narrative throughout the film and this offers many insights into the mind of a wealthy Beverly Hills teen. This also allows the audience an insider's view of her motivations and thought processes. Even considering her wealth and shallowness, I was almost tempted to feel sorry for her. She did have a pure heart and the best of intentions, and the voice overs allowed the movie viewer to arrive at this feeling.

The overall tone of the film is lighthearted and satirical. The thoughts and deeds of Cher begin to outweigh the laughable language that she uses and her ever present fashion sense. A viewer can not fault Cher for who she is or how she was raised. Instead, the movie creates an ignorant creature who begs to be liked.

Clueless is an aptly named movie. The characters in this movie are not based in the same reality that I find myself in everyday. The general excesses of the characters in their thoughts and deeds allows the director to make fun of the way they speak and act, but does not create a feeling of ill-will toward them. This is a smart and entertaining movie and clearly attempts to define the whatever generation. The movie goes through great pains and tends to exagerrate just to show a viewer the thoughts and concerns of this lost generation. The end results and feelings a viewer takes away from this movie are well worth the assault that Cher and her friends put on a viewer's mind and common sense. Being clueless is truly one problem that can be solved.

Rating:
Summary: A Diamond in the Rough
Review: Upon your first viewing of "Clueless", it would appear that it is a sterotypical teen-movie. Let me assure you, the underlying story is much deeper that would first appear. Cher Horowitz, played by Alicia Silverstone, would appear to be a typical Beverly Hills rich snob who likes to meddle in others' affairs. Cher has a gift. Cher's gift is the art of argument. Cher always gets her way. She can even argue her grades from C's to A-'s. Cher also like to play matchmaker. During the movie, Cher sets up two of her teachers, Ms. Geist and Mr. Hall (played by Twink Caplan and Wallace Shawn). Cher's intentions were not necessarily all for her teachers' benefit, but rather her own benefit through their happiness. If Cher's teachers are happy, she could easily argue her grades. Cher's main project, though, is a new student from New York, Tai Frasier. Cher and her best friend Dionne take Tai under their "popular wings" and decide to totally transform her into a supermodel. Cher is so happy with her "good deed" that she doesn't realize that she created a monster. Suddenly, Tai is the most popular girl in school and Cher is left by the roadside. It is at this moment that Cher realizes how unimportant the things she used to value are. Cher's character completely matures throughout the movie. The ultimate maturation occurs when she realizes that the one she "hates" the whole time is actually the one she loves. Cher's ex-brother-in-law, Josh (played by Paul Rudd) is the only person that sees through Cher's "perfection" and calls her on her imperfections. It is Josh's honesty that Cher hates early on, but learns to value in the end. Believe it or not, this movie is based on "Emma", the 1816 classic written by Jane Austen! From a distance the stories do not seem alike, but believe me, they are! Almost all the characters are the same! Cher is Emma, Josh is Mr. Knightly, Christian is Frank Churchill, Travis is Mr. Martin, Tai is Harriet Smith, Mel Horowitz is Mr. Woodhouse, Elton is Mr. Elton, Amber is Mrs. Elton, Dionne is Ms. Taylor, Murray is Mr. Weston, and Mr. Hall/Ms. Geist were simply added to show Cher's matchmaking capabilities. There are many scenes in the movie that mirror the classic. The car scene, in which Cher is forced to reject Elton (played by Jeremy Sisto) is exactly like the carriage scene where Emma rejects Mr. Elton. Josh saves Tai from embarrassment by dancing with her at a dance; The same thing occurs in "Emma" between Mr. Knightly and Harriet Smith. The title "Clueless" really is clever because both Emma and Cher truely are clueless to the harm they cause. Emma and Cher are also clueless of the world outside of their sheltered lives. Those who have not seen "Clueless", must see it, but only after reading the story of "Emma". Those who have seen "Clueless" and did not like it, I urge you to read "Emma" and watch it again. "Clueless" is simply a modern-day interpretation of a timeless classic! Open your mind and absorb Amy Heckerlings 1995 version of one of the greatest stories of all time!

-Joel Maxam-