Fixin' to be Alot Better, Man...

Dazed & Confused
Click Here to see where the film got its title.
Okay, so the movie is set in 1976, but it was filmed in 1993 (this blog has taught me that I am apparently obsessed with this year). Dazed and Confused combines my two favorite eras, and features one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. Even though it didn't garner much attention in 93, Dazed and Confused has become increasingly popular over the last 15 years, gaining cult status.


Soundtrack
The film opens with Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion," capturing the bliss that goes along with the last day of school, and closes with "Slow Ride" by Foghat as Pink, Wooderson, Dawson and Simone drive to get Aerosmith tickets. Other great songs in the film include Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" when Mitch is getting his beating, and the 'Nuge's "Stranglehold."


Breakout Roles
Ben Affleck (O'Bannion): Before Good Will Hunting and "Bennifer," (parts I and II), Ben Affleck was the fifth-year bully O'Bannion. Take a closer look at his paddle...FUH-Q.

Matthew McConaughey (Wooderson): Playing the slightly-older dropout, McConoughey landed himself the most memorable line from the film: "That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older and they stay the same age."

Rory Chochrane (Slater): If you don't recognize his name, you probably didn't watch the first two seasons of CSI. He played the character Speedle, who is murdered pretty early in the series. In Dazed Slater is by far the most toasted character, my favorite line being "Behind every good man there is a woman, and that woman was Martha Washington, man, and everyday George would come home, she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man, when he come in the door, man, she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man."

Adam Goldberg (Mike): Goldberg has had small parts in several movies, (Saving Private Ryan, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), and in some pretty popular TV shows, (Friends, Entourage), but self-described "geek" Mike Newhouse was his breakout role. "I'm just trying to be honest about being a misanthrope."

Milla Jovovich (Michelle): Jovovich has had a pretty extensive modeling career and a so-so acting career. Michelle was Kevin Pickford's girlfriend in Dazed, and seemed just about as out of it as Slater and Pickford were. She didn't have any memorable lines and mostly just stared blankly throughout the film.

Jason London (Randall "Pink" Floyd): What's not to love about Pink? The inexplicably lovable character conflicts throughout the film about signing a declaration not to drink or use drugs, eventually telling his football coach "I may play ball next fall, but I will never sign that." London and his twin brother Jeremy have both lead semi-successful careers, with small movie roles and a few television appearances.

There are thousands of other memorable characters and quotes that would make this post painfully long, so I'll spare you. Watch the movie! :) It now comes as a dual-disk set with the 80's cult classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High, another great movie.

Pop-Culture References
Family Guy has referenced Dazed and Confused on two occasions:
1) Brian, dressed as Wooderson, repeats the high school girls line outside an animated Emporium
2) Chris is afraid to start high school, and is eventually paddled to "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

Two permits do not equal a license!

As if!
Mel: Cher, get in here!
Cher: Yes daddy?
Mel: What are you wearing?
Cher: A dress.
Mel: Says who?
Cher: Calvin Klein!

Ah, Clueless. While the movie is undeniably vacuous, shallow Cher Horowitz was so adorably "clueless" that audiences couldn't help but love her and her oh-so-90s slang (also known as "Valspeak," the universal language of the Valley Girls...thank you, California).

Believe it or not, Clueless is loosely based on the Jane Austen novel Emma. Very loosely. Click here to view character and plot comparisons between Emma and Clueless. The film, which was released in 1995, follows the life of 15 year-old Cher Horowitz, (played by Alicia Silverstone), the daughter of a rich lawyer ("Daddy's a litigator. Those are the scariest kinds of lawyers...He gets paid $500 an hour just to fight with people, but he fights with me for free 'cause I'm his daughter!") as she plays matchmaker with her friends and teachers in Beverly Hills. The cast includes a slew of (now) well-known actors, including Brittany Murphy, (Tai), Paul Rudd, (Josh), and Donald Faison, (Murray).

Josh: I'm amazed.
Cher: That I'm devoting myself so generously to someone else?
Josh: No, that you've found someone even more clueless than you are to worship you.

Admittedly, I know pretty much this entire movie by heart. With lines like "I feel like such a heffer. I had two bowls of Special K, three pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, FIVE peanut-butter M&Ms..." and "That was my mom. Isn't she a total betty? She died when I was young. A freak accident during a routine liposuction," (Cher), what's not to love?

Remember when?
*Remember when Alicia Silverstone was supposed to be the next up-and-coming young actress? She was even Aerosmith's music video "Crazy" with Steven Tyler's daughter, Liv. See the video on YouTube: "Crazy"
*What about Brittany Murphy!? Apparently 10-15 pounds and a dye-job can work wonders! (Okay...maybe more like 20 pounds...she's looking pretty skeletal in that second photo.)

THEN ********************************************NOW Whatever!
Clueless: The Television Show.
Nobody needs to watch this show (I'm not even sure it's running on syndicates any more). The show butchered the film and didn't even include all of the same characters. Alicia Silverstone was smart enough not to go near it, and the show starred Rachel Blanchard. While it seems like picking up where our favorite characters left off would be a great idea, it was a total "Monet."