Wait a minute...didn't I do a back-to-school themed great selection in-depth analysis? Well, yes. However, this movie is not going back to school. It focuses more on female-led comedies in which there are many but there are not as many as there used to be but I would suppose that this sort of genre is climbing an uphill battle. I have to admit I like some of them but very few are very good but many are forgettable because many movies bring a quality in which they push the envelope of redemption or learning a lesson too far or they push so many unnecessary cliches or values into the picture that makes me want to leave the theatre or turn off my television.
So, I thought to myself what is one of the best in this "female-led comedy" genre? I wanted to supposedly talk about a somewhat underrated movie but it was popular at its time so I decided to talk about the movie that is seen from the picture above. I chose this movie because it intertwines the privileged and rich vibes with the astute observations that sums up the high-class Beverly Hills world from the point of view of high schoolers, most particularly high school girls. It has been a while since I have seen this 90s classic, but watching the movie again from an adult perspective, I thought that the movie is smarter and sweeter than I thought underneath all of the hip dialogue.
Cherilyn "Cher" Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) is a somewhat superficial but very persistent and well-intentioned teenage girl who is popular, beautiful and wealthy. She narrates throughout the movie explaining that the terrible intro is not the way the movie will be as she asks in the first opening line, "What is this? A Noxema commercial?" She lives in a Beverly Hills Mansion with her father, Mel (Dan Hedaya), who is a tough litigator that is paid $500 an hour. Her mother died when Cher was a baby because of a routine liposuction malfunction.
Cher's best friend is Dionne (Stacey Dash) who are both named by iconic artists "from the past who now do infomercials". Dionne is also a hip, beautiful and wealthy girl and has a relationship with Murray (Donald Faison), a relationship which Cher thinks it is pointless. Cher has a problem with her debate teacher, Mr. Hall (Wallace Shawn), as her teacher gives a C grade on her report card. Mr. Hall is single and is lonely so Cher takes the effort by finding a counterpoint to him and she sees Mrs. Geist (Twink Caplan) and Cher pairs her and Mr. Hall together as they get good chemistry with each other.
After helping them and also some of the students raising their grades, Cher decides to give back to the community. She and Josh (Paul Rudd), her ex-stepbrother, spar as she makes fun of his scruffy idealism and he makes fun of her good directions of "going to the mall" and negotiating tactics by making herself and other people feel better. But, they do get along well. She and Dionne "adopt" a new girl, Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy) to upgrade her looks and fit into the glove of the student communities. Cher wants Tai to be with Elton (Jeremy Sisto), a rich snob, whereas, Tai wanted to hang out with Travis (Breckin Meyer), a skateboarding slacker.
This movie is adapted from Jane Austen's novel, Emma, that has the same structure but is put in the modern world as the main character is a matchmaker who helps almost everybody being with the right person. The movie highlights a portrait of kids who have so much vanity with so much money that they only focus as to what may happen to only their faces, looks and clothing. The movie chugs along and never looks back as the movie focuses on Cher's life and the lifestyle she is in because from the start of the movie, it is treated like a dizzying music video that I do not want to see ever again. But, underneath all the narcissistic personality, Cher is a self-affirming soul who want to redeem herself from her mistakes and failures, like, for example, failing a driving test and failing to re-negotiate to take the test again very soon right after she crashed a parked car and almost hit a bicyclist.
That is when the themes of maturity and redemption comes in especially towards the second half because the movie turns around when she is seemingly in a relationship with Christian (Justin Walker). To make him "jealous, Cher sends herself chocolate, flowers and love notes. And, in a funny scene, Cher is excited to pick out a night in when she gets to "do it" with Christian but then, he leaves. Cher finds out from Murray that he is gay. Even though she is shocked by that revelation, she appreciates Christian more as a partner for art and fashion, especially when going shopping. Right there, there could have been a formulaic scene in which an argument takes place between Cher and Christian. But, that is what is so brilliant, the screenplay matures along with the character. Cher accepts it.
After an argument with Tai for not accepting her request to "get" Josh, Cher is confused and comes to the realization that she likes Josh but then get mores awkward with him and also in helping out with a can drive. There's some people who take in fault in her but also are there for her, including her father, who, I think is the funniest character but also one of the two smartest characters in the movie. Even though her father is tough, he loves her for being caring for other people including him, who urges him to take his vitamin C.
Alicia Silverstone is wonderful in the starring role as she play a seemingly one-dimensional character but is a more complex character with gumption and persistence by manipulating people to fall in love with somebody else but then feels bad for being unstable. Stacey Dash is solid as his best friend but also the late Brittany Murphy is charming as the new girl who is upgraded because during the scene when she is getting a makeover, her personality changes slowly and becomes well, a clone of Cher. But, Tai, as a character, is an outlook of what would happen if somebody would hang out with a popular clique and learning the ropes a little too well. Paul Rudd, who looks exactly the same back then, is funny. Donald Faison and Breckin Meyer also delivers some laughs too. But, with Hedaya playing the father, I'll just present you these two funny clips:
But, the movie is all thanks to Amy Heckerling, the director and the screenwriter. She has written and made a portrait of superficial high school people but astutely as she writes the standard slang intertwining with complex vocabulary as Tai observes that they speak like adults. The only issue I had is towards the end in which, if you have seen the movie, Cher is coupled with somebody but felt too rushed to that revelation and needed another draft of the last 15 minutes. However, it is still recognized as one of the best high school films and it deserves to be because this movie, in companion with Mean Girls, which is not a bad double feature, observes the lifestyle more but with smart characters and solid dialogue.
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