Clueless (1995)

Clueless (1995) Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Breckin Meyer, Donald Faison, Dan Hedaya Directed by Amy Heckerling. Screenplay by Amy Heckerling. Based on Emma by Jane Austen (published in 1815). Produced by Scott Rudin, Robert Lawrence. Runtime: 97 minutes USA Romantic Comedy

Like William Shakespeare, the work of Jane Austen has been made into several movies. Every novel she’d written has been made into either a movie or a TV Miniseries save Sanditon (1817), her unfinished novel. Some of her books have been adapted many times, like Pride and Prejudice (1813) which has been adapted 13 times for film and television with looser adaptations from an episode of Red Dwarf to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012–2013), an Emmy winning YouTube adaption.

Her book Emma was first adapted as a feature film in 1948 and again in 1996, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and in between were two television miniseries, first in 1960 and then again in 1972. There was also a TV movie starring Kate Beckinsale, also released in 1996 and then again as a miniseries in 2009. But not all adaptations follow her books so closely. Case in point, Clueless (1995), in which the story is transplanted to Beverly Hills and given a then modern update by Amy Heckerling.

Heckerling, whose career includes another teenage comedy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), her first feature, was known for her comedies. These include Johnny Dangerously (1984), National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), Look Who’s Talking (1989) and Look Who’s Talking Too (1990). In order to prepare for this film, Heckerling studied real High School students to get the lingo and culture for teenagers in the 1990’s.

In this version, Austen’s Emma Woodhouse is reborn as Cheryl "Cher" Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), a cute, sweet but deeply spoiled daughter of attorney Melvin "Mel" Horowitz (Dan Hedaya), a $500 an hour litigator. Cher’s mother died in a freak liposuction accident when Cher was only a baby.  Cher is one of the popular girls at high school, riding the crest of the social wave along with her best friend, Dionne Davenport (Stacey Dash). Dionne is based on the character Isabella Knightley (née Woodhouse), Emma’s sister.

Dionne (Stacey Dash) and Cher (Alicia Silverstone) are best friends at school.

Cher is 15 years-old but drives a tricked-out Jeep that her father bought her. A good fashion sense, she has her outfits programmed into her computer so that she is never mismatched. A good student, Cher doesn’t apply herself to anything until she receives lower than expected. In order to help raise her grades, she negotiates with some of her teachers, who raise her grades. However, her debate teacher, Wendell Hall (Wallace Shawn), doesn’t budge. But she does manage to weaken his resolve by playing matchmaker, setting him up with another hard-grading teacher, Miss Geist (Twink Caplan), the latter of whom she gave a makeover to help attract Mr. Hall’s attention.

In an effort to get a better grade, Cher set up her debate teacher
 Wendell Hall (Wallace Shawn) with another lonely teacher.

After finding success with that effort, Cher turns her attention to a new student, Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy). Tai is a bit of an ugly duckling by comparison with Cher and Dionne. Tai, though, catches the eye of skateboarder and drug user, Travis Birkenstock (Breckin Meyer), whom Cher feels is below her. Instead, she tries to fix up the new and improved Tai with Elton Tiscia (Jeremy Sisto).

Cher takes new student Tai (Brittany Murphy) under her wing and gives her a makeover.

She tries to match them up at a party in the Valley. But things don’t go as planned and Cher ends up with Elton. On the way home, Elton stops the car to make his play for Cher. However, when she rebuffs his advances, he leaves her on the side of the road. Cher is promptly mugged with her cell phone and purse stolen. Desperate, she calls her former stepbrother, Josh Lucas (Paul Rudd), who lives in L.A. going to college. Even though he’s on a date, he still comes to her rescue.

Cher tries to set Tai up with Elton (Jeremy Sisto), but he's only interested in Cher.

Cher then falls for another new student, Christian Stovitz (Justin Walker). The child of a divorced couple, Christian’s parents have joint custody and he spends one semester in Chicago and one in Beverly Hills. Good-looking with his own somewhat dated sense of fashion, he dresses like a member of the Rat Pack, Cher falls hard for him.

Cher falls for Christian (Justin Walker), another new student at her school.

On their first date, Christian takes Cher to a party. Concerned about him, Josh, who is helping his former step-father with some research for a case, begs off helping to follow them. Mel, who seems to know what’s going on, lets him go. At the party, Josh ends up dancing with Tai, who otherwise is a wallflower at the affair. Cher notices and appreciates his actions. What she doesn’t seem to notice is that Christian is more comfortable with the boys at the party, even staying behind with Josh taking her home.

Cher is willing to give her viriginity to Christian, but he's not interested.

Cher, who we learn is still a virgin and is waiting for someone she loves, decides that Christian is the one. She invites him over to her house when her father is out but when the time would be right, he goes home. It takes Dionne’s boyfriend, Murray Duvall (Donald Faison), to point out to her that Christian is gay.

Despite her miscalculation, Cher still likes Christian because he’s smart, likes art and has a good fashion sense. On a shopping spree with him, Tai, who is also at the mall, is flirting with some boys while sitting on the second-floor railing. She jokes about falling over and the boys she’s with decide to take it a step further and dangle her over the railing. Christian comes to her rescue but her near-death experience has a profound effect on her popularity at school.

Tai usurps Cher as the center of attention at school.

But things don’t get better, as Cher fails her driving test and try as she might, she can’t renegotiate the results. When she gets home, Tai is there with Josh and later Tai confides to Cher that she has a crush on Josh and asks Cher to help her get him. But Cher, instead, tells Tai that Josh’s not right for her. A verbal altercation follows, ending with Tai calling Cher a "virgin who can't drive".

Now, Cher is left feeling totally clueless, which causes her to reflect on the important things in her life. With Tai being the social queen, Cher gets involved in charity work, which she finds rewarding. Cher even leads her school’s Pismo Beach disaster relief effort, a made up and undefined disaster. She also lowers her guard, allowing Travis to invite her to an amateur skateboarding contest he’s participating in.

Cher starts to realize she's attracted to her former stepbrother, Josh (Paul Rudd).

Cher’s soul-searching leads her to the epiphany that she, in fact, loves Josh. But she can’t seem to bring this up to him. The situation presents itself, however, for Josh to show how he feels about her. When one of her father’s associates scolds her for taking files apart, Josh defends her. This allows them to finally confess their feelings for each other.

The film ends at the wedding of Hall and Geist.

The film ends with the wedding of Hall and Geist. The various couples are there, including Tai and Travis, Dionne and Murray and, of course, Cher and Josh. Cher even wins a $200 bet by being the woman who catches the Geist’s wedding bouquet. She and Josh embrace and kiss and the film ends.

Clueless ends with a kiss between Josh and Cher.

Clueless was a bit of a surprise hit. On a budget of $12 million, the film made $56.6 million. While not a blockbuster by the standards of the day, the film made the virtually unknown Silverstone a star and led her to getting a $10 million contract at Columbia Pictures. The film also received generally positive reviews from critics and moviegoers alike.

The film doesn’t really seem to have the usual three-act structure that we have become accustomed to. There are three acts, but the first act seems to go on for a long time. We are treated to a luxurious look at Cher’s lifestyle, which is pretty sweet. She seems to have money, freedom and zero responsibilities for most of the film. You have to give her some credit for still being a virgin but that is about as virtuous as she gets until near the very end. It is only after she loses her place on top of the social order that she takes a look at herself and changes.

I do find it hard to believe that a lawyer father would let his daughter drive without a license, knowing what sort of liability that would be. While I’m sure that this happens more than I’d care to think, it just doesn’t seem like something her father would knowingly let her do.

And I don’t really buy her situation at school, either. I know that the depiction of school life is supposed to be exaggerated for comedy but Elton is very handsy throughout, grabbing Cher at every turn, even when the moment doesn’t quite feel like it would be appropriate. Maybe I’ve been ruined by an ever-litigious America, but it’s hard to imagine a school would allow that sort of behavior. I know this is pre-PC and the #metoo movement, but it still seems very brazen, even for the setting.

Cher is not really a likable character through much of the film. While you might envy her lifestyle, she is a self-centered drama queen. Unless she was a friend of yours you wouldn’t really like her as a person. I know you’re saying but she does good deeds, doesn’t she? Well, the first good deed we see her do, matching Hall and Geist together, is really a selfish gesture because she hopes it will lead to better grades. She takes pity on Tai, but she never really seems to have that girl’s best interest at heart.

It might also seem a little odd that she ends up with her ex-stepbrother in the end. Not the usual way a romantic comedy ends, but they are a cute couple nevertheless. While Josh is based on Emma’s George Knightley, their relationship in the book is not so familial, though they are familiar, life-long friends.

One of the fun parts of the film is watching a couple of really good character actors. Wallace Shawn, perhaps best known for films like My Dinner with Andre (1981) and The Princess Bride (1987), doesn’t disappoint here in what is a small, though important role. Neither does Dan Heyada, who plays Cher’s father. Heyada first came to be known as Carla’s ne’er-do-well husband in the long-running TV Series Cheers. He would also appear in such films as Nixon (1995) and later play Nixon in Dick (1999).

Several of the stars of Clueless would go on to long careers in film. Silverstone, despite her large contract with Sony, never really took off as a major star. There would be some big roles, like Batgirl in Batman & Robin (1997) and while she continues to act to this day, Silverstone is known as much for her activism as her acting. A devoted vegan, she is also a supporter of PETA.

Stacey Dash, who would reprise her role in the Clueless TV show that followed from 1996 to 1999, also appeared in several films and TV Series. Somewhere along the way, the Democratic Dash would end up a Republican and on Fox News as a commentator during the latter half of the Obama administration. She has since filed to run in California's 44th congressional district in the 2018 Congressional Election as a Republican.

Donald Faison would have a more conventional acting career. After also appearing on the Clueless TV series, Faison would also appear on the long-running Scrubs (2001-2010) followed by The Exes (2011-2015).

Jeremy Sisto, who played Elton, would go on to appear in such films as Waitress (2007) as well as star on the TV series Law and Order (2008–2010), and Suburgatory (2011-2014). He would also play Jesus in a TV Movie of the same name in 1999. Here he’s all hands; not his best role.

Brittany Murphy, who played Tai, maybe best remembered for voicing Luanne Platter for the entire run of the animated series King of the Hill (1997-2009) also got her big break in this film.  She would also appear in such films as Girl, Interrupted (1999), 8 Mile (2002), Just Married (2003) and Happy Feet (2006), the latter in which she voiced the character of Gloria. Plagued by rumors of drug use, Brittany's career slowed in the late 2000s and she would, unfortunately, die of pneumonia in December 2009. 

Perhaps of all the actors, Paul Rudd may have had the most prolific career. Clueless was his first film, though he had been on the TV series Sisters before that. He would go on to appear in 18 episodes of the very popular Friends series. A favorite of director Judd Apatow, Rudd would appear in several of his films, The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Knocked Up (2007), and This Is 40 (2012). He also appeared in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013), both directed by Adam McKay. He also found new fans with his successful appearance as the titular character in Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and will soon appear in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and in the yet untitled Avengers: Infinity War sequel. At this point of his career, Rudd’s best attribute was that he was cute.

Clueless is not so bad as it is somewhat forgettable. The film hasn’t aged-well, especially in light of the more recent Occupy Movement and attention to economic inequalities. The story is okay, though Cher really doesn’t change all that much. It’s not like she goes for someone like Travis. Instead, she ends up with someone in her same socio-economic class. Perhaps it's telling that Josh is also involved with Murray, who may be to blame for how the two of them came out. And what’s there to say about a film whose most memorable line of dialogue is “as if”.