Clueless

The now iconic poster

Clueless
July 19, 1995
Paramount
Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

The same boyfriend that I saw Party Girl with also invited me to this movie.  He most enjoyed the skateboarding sequence, and I wished I had someone to discuss the Jane Austen parallels with.  Luckily, some of the savvier reviews got that this was a modernized, Beverly Hills version of Emma.  Not in every detail (there's no Jane Fairfax for instance), but with enough to have fun spotting.  E.g. Cher (the Emma character, played by Alicia Silverstone) and her best friend Dionne (sort of Mrs. Weston, played by Stacey Dash) are both named after pop-singers, so it's a nice touch that Mr. Elton becomes Elton (as in Elton John).

In retrospect, the parallels seem obvious, but you have to remember that this was just before the Jane Austen revival of the mid to late '90s.  And a teen movie was the last place I expected to find such parallels.  The Austenisms aside, the movie remains a sweet, witty, slightly naughty, very '90s romp.  It was made in partial reaction to grunge (the scene of the boys in backwards baseball caps and baggy pants remains classic, especially since now many of those boys are now middle-aged and still wearing their caps like that), and also as a post-'80s fantasy of various parts of LA.  The vocabulary was close enough to the Val-speak of my own adolescence a dozen years earlier that I could follow it pretty well, although it might seem foreign to those from other backgrounds.

Written and directed by Amy Heckerling, it is both miles from Johnny Dangerously in setting and theme, and not entirely unlike.  Both movies have protagonists who are on top of the world and about to fall, yet still going to come out on top.  They also both have wonderful supporting performances that almost steal the show from the charismatic leads.  And they're both very quotable.

I must note that all three of my 1995 movies have a colorful, happy, and gay-friendly vibe.  This is not how the '90s are necessarily remembered, and it's definitely not true of my '96ers.  But these three embrace a retro, cheerfully defiant attitude, while acknowledging the cynicism of the larger culture.  Also, as in The Brady Bunch Movie, the proliferation of cell phones in LA is used for humor that has dated immeasurably.

Paul Rudd, then 26, makes his big-screen debut as Josh, the Mr. Knightley character, if Mr. Knightley were a smart but slightly pretentious college student who listens to "complaint rock" and briefly grows "chin pubes."  (I told you this was very '90s.)  He would immediately become one of my movie crushes, and remain so these two decades.  We will definitely be seeing more of him.

This time, Dan Hedaya plays Cher's father, Mel Horowitz, cast against type as he was in Tune in Tomorrow....  Julie Brown as Ms. Stoeger, the lesbian PE teacher, is nothing like her character in Earth Girls.  Donald Faison, who's Murray, and Breckin Meyer, who's Travis Birkenstock, would both be Du Jour members in Josie and the Pussycats.  Much of the cast would go on to the Clueless TV series, which ran for three years.

Carl Gottlieb, who's the Priest here, was Dr. Magnus in Johnny Dangerously.  Bobbie Sunday Starr, Passenger in Jeep here, gave Marcia a dirty look in The Brady Bunch Movie.  Aida Linares, who's Lucy the maid here, would be Theresa in The First Wives Club.

"Kind of a Baldwin"?  As if!  Much cuter than Stephen et al.

Party Girl

Party Girl
June 9, 1995
Party Productions
Comedy, Romance, Musical
VHS
B

I first saw this movie a month or so after it was released, on a first date with a recovering alcoholic/drug addict who fell off the wagon soon after.  We were both file clerks at a bank and I, who planned to go on to library school, was known as the best alphabetizer in the department.  I mention this because now when I watch the movie, that life seems more distant to me in some ways than my memories of '70s and '80s movies.  I did get into library school (and was a librarian for a decade), but now I'm at the point in my life where I have to laugh that an almost-24-year-old feels like her life has no direction.  I want to tell Mary that even if you figure out your life in your twenties, you may revisit its meaning many times.

Mary is played by the vivacious fashion goddess 26-year-old Parker Posey.  The character walks that fine line between likable and unlikable, but she's always interesting.  It's easy to see why, even in the racially and sexually diverse clubbing world, where people can walk around in blue makeup and call themselves Luna ("Talk to me when you get a last name," Mary snaps) or dress as Dr. Seuss's Thing #1 and Thing #2 and call themselves the It Twins, she still stands out.  The movie is about her unlikely transformation into an aspiring library school student.  It is as such very dated (from card-catalogs to Gopher and FTP), but nonetheless interesting from that perspective, capturing what an urban New York library was like before everything was transformed by the Internet, smartphones, etc.

The movie is also very funny and has a slammin' soundtrack, from its cover of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" to the title tune at the end.  If I can't rate the movie higher, it's not only that Mary is not much of a heroine, but also that I didn't really care about the romance.  (I thought her roommate Leo was much cuter, even if he doesn't know who Sisyphus is.)  The film is meandering, which is part of its charm, but doesn't make for a strong plotline.  I think you'll enjoy it, especially if you're looking for a mid-'90s vibe and/or know about library culture, but don't expect to be blown away.  It's just a nice little quirky indie.

Dwight Ewell, who's part of the He-He-Hello Trio, would appear in Chasing Amy and Dogma.  Donna Mitchell, who's club owner Rene here, would be Gene's Wife in Wet Hot American Summer.

All kinds of fashion statements.

The Brady Bunch Movie

The Brady Bunch Movie
February 17, 1995
Paramount
Comedy, Musical
DVD
B

This was released on my 27th birthday and I saw it with two younger friends, who are still two of my best friends.  We all enjoyed the movie, but I was the one laughing at nearly every detail, down to the way that Mike hits a golf ball into a glass bottle.  You have to remember that I'd grown up watching B Bunch multiple times, but this was still pre-Internet (for me anyway) and I hadn't had anyone to discuss such details with.  At the time, I probably would've given the movie an A-.

When I saw it again, after buying it and its very Brady sequel on DVD, I found the humor much staler and contrived.  This time, I guess it caught me in the right mood, and I could appreciate it for what it is: a loving if ribald parody of the show.  Having the Bradys inexplicably stuck in the '70s in the era of grunge and car phones (it's never explained why they haven't aged beyond the fourth or fifth season, although there may be some Groundhog-Day-like theory out there) works because their sunny view of life was out of place in the early '70s to begin with.  Also, even after all the Brady parodies in the past two decades (including the clever recent Snickers commercial), this still holds up, due to that attention to detail (most notably in the costumes) and some impersonations that range from adequate to uncanny.

For convenience's sake, I'm going to, well, bunch the Bradys and Alice (with the exception of Shelley Long) under the tag of "Movie Bradys."  They are composed of

• Gary Cole as Mike
• Henriette Mantel as Alice
• Christopher Daniel Barnes as Greg
• Christine Taylor as Marcia
• Paul Sutera as Peter
• Jennifer Elise Cox as Jan
• Jesse Lee Soffer as Bobby
• Olivia Hack as Cindy

The younger kids are adequate.  They look and sound vaguely like the originals.  Bobby is given almost nothing to do, although lisping Thindy has some moments, mostly interacting with the ever versatile Michael McKean, as scheming neighbor Larry Dittmeyer.  Sutera isn't quite right as Peter but he does OK, and ironically is more successful with girls than Greg, whose "Hey, groovy chick" patter and tendency to serenade with songs like "Clowns Never Laughed Before" scare off more chicks than they attract.  Barnes was in a classic Brady homage on the otherwise forgettable sitcom Day by Day, which I will discuss on my TV blog someday.  He's not quite right as Greg either, particularly in looks, but he certainly gives it his all.

Mantel doesn't look quite right as Alice, but she gives a good impersonation.  Long has the burden of her own sitcom image as Diane Chambers on Cheers, but she does capture the worried and cheerful sides of Carol Brady, although not the naughty side.  (Florence Henderson is one of the actual Bradys making a cameo, and at the age of about 60 she shows off a nice pair of gams.)

The real stand-outs are Cole, Taylor, and Cox.  Except for Taylor, none of them exactly looks like their TV counterparts, but they've got the voices and mannerisms down cold.  In this and the sequel (which inspired a lot of memes a couple months ago, more of that in its place), the Marcia-Jan rivalry is raised to eleven, with Taylor's sweet bitch of a Marcia playing off of Cox's neurotic turned psychotic Jan.  (Cox had played Jan onstage in The Real Live Brady Bunch, so she's really got it down pat, from the voice to the hair-swinging.)  And Cole makes us realize how empty Mike's platitudes could be, while he delivers the nonsense with Robert-Reedian earnestness.  Kudos to director Betty Thomas and to screenwriters Bonnie & Terry Turner (of Wayne's World).

If I have any quibbles, I think there should've been more musical numbers (the one at Sears is hilariously out of the blue), and maybe even more cameos.  Note, not only does Davy Jones sing at the dance for Marcia (as he did on the show), but Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz appear later.  Also of note, the movie is relatively gay-friendly, with not only a gay male interracial couple as neighbors, but also Marcia's likable lesbian best friend.  (And even she does better with the ladies than poor Greg.)

This time Archie Hahn plays Mr. Swanson.  Selma Archerd, who had played a PTA Lady on The Brady Bunch in '73, and had various other minor roles in TV and film, including The Big Bus and Can't Stop the Music, here plays a neighbor.  Reni Santoni, who plays a Police Officer, dubbed the voice of the State Trooper in Groundhog Day.

Bobbie Sunday Starr, who plays Girl who gives Marcia dirty look, would be Passenger in Jeep in Clueless.  David Leisure, who plays Jason here, would be Mr. Chapin in 10 Things I Hate About You.  Alanna Ubach, who's Marcia's lesbian friend Noreen, would be Serena in Legally Blonde.  Yolanda Snowball, who plays Mrs. Yeager, would be a Receptionist in Easy A.  (The man playing her husband is much more recognizable, since James Avery was already established as Uncle Philip on TV's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.)

Those reprising roles in the sequel, besides the Bradys and Alice of course, include Stephen Gilborn (whom I best know as Ellen's father on Ellen) as Mike's boss Mr. Phillips and RuPaul as scene-stealing guidance counselor Mrs./Ms. Cummings.

Little Women (1994)

Little Women (1994)
December 25, 1994
Columbia
Drama, Comedy, Historical, Romance
VHS
B-

In thinking it over, I'd actually put this movie at the same level as the 1933 George Cukor version.  Winona Ryder, then 18, does a fine job in stepping into Katharine Hepburn's shoes, with her own equally valid interpretation of Jo.  The other sisters are again neglected, although Marmee's role (played by Susan Sarandon) has been beefed up and made to more closely resemble Alcott's mother.  The sisters do have some nice little moments, in particular 13-year-old Kirsten Dunst as Amy (whom I miss when she's recast for the grown-up Amy scenes), but I would like to see more balance in some version someday.

And at least they have something to do, unlike most of the men.  With the exception of Christian Bale as Laurie, and to some degree Gabriel Byrne as Professor Bhaer, the male characters are either miscast/misinterpreted (John Brooke) or almost nonexistent (Mr. Laurence and Mr. March).  One thing that the '33 version did much better was show how gruff Mr. L interacts with the March sisters, Jo and Beth especially.  And Mr. M seems to have only three lines in this go-round.  Incidentally, I'm using the "romance" tag here although I didn't for the '33 version, because it seems like romance is a bigger deal here, including quite a bit of smooching and almost-smooching.

Of other female characters, I would've liked to have seen more of film veteran Mary Wickes, as Aunt March, since she could've done a lot with the part.  (Wickes died the following year, at 85.)

I will say that the movie moved me more emotionally than the '33 version, although I did find some of the line delivery a little stilted, if less than in the not-far-from-the-silent-era earlier take.  Both remain less than the book they're based on.  (Reviewed here, http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/02/little-women.html .)  Admittedly, that's one of my favorite books, but in the first half of the '90s both Enchanted April and Joy Luck Club showed what could be done with adaptations.

Daniel Olsen, who plays a Wounded Soldier, would be an MIT student in Good Will Hunting.

Threesome

Threesome
April 8, 1994
TriStar
Comedy, Drama, Romance
DVD
B+

This movie's racy title may be misleading.  Yes, it's about sex, including sex within and among three close but very different college roommates (guys named Eddy and Stuart, a girl named Alex), but it's also about love and friendship, and how those get mixed up with sex and with each other.  Appropriately enough, I first saw it the Fall after its initial release, on cable, in a dorm room.  In fact, I (by then a divorced 26-year-old) and two of the friends I watched it with went on to experience a more innocent version of the entanglements in the film.  So I can swear to you that the view of hijinks and pizza and sexual confusion is incredibly real.  (The "It's three in the morning!" "Shut up!" exchange is what would've occurred if anyone in our dormitory actually cared about us playing pranks on each other in the middle of the night.)  That the movie is set to a late '80s/ early '90s soundtrack (I lit up when Jellyfish's "My Best Friend" first played, and I still smile now), only further captures that time.

Even if you've never lived in a dorm, I think you'll be entertained.  The dialogue is witty in a college way.  That is, sometimes crude and sometimes pseudo-intellectual, but almost always funny.  There is also true poignancy in Eddy's dilemma.  (Josh Charles is perfect.)  He is a virgin but mostly identifies as gay, and yet he loves both his roommates.  (The word "bisexual" is never uttered by the way, which is a sign of the times.)  The romance is odd because I honestly don't like either Stuart or Alex (Stephen Baldwin and Lara Flynn Boyle) most of the time, and I don't desperately want any pair or triad of them to form.  But each time I watch the movie, I like seeing how it plays out.  I have watched the movie with a roomful of bisexuals by the way, and everyone fell silent during the ultimate sex/ love scene.  (It's not very graphic, but it is very erotic, tactile.)

Considering the small cast and budget, it's a very impressive movie, even today.  The lack of a strong plot (especially the ending) and some confusion about when Alex might've gotten pregnant (we know she usually uses condoms with Stuart, but the lack of graphic detail makes it unclear if they were forgotten during the three-sided sex), as well as the aforementioned not exactly sympathetic characters (even Eddy is insensitive to one poor girl Stuart brings "home"), weaken the film for me.  Still, there are things I like noticing, like how Alex does variations on '50s "costumes" in her everyday wardrobe, including a housewife when Stuart's date comes over for dinner.  My recommendation, watch the movie, unless the basic premise offends you.

Ironically, considering the name SNAFU (which by the way is also realistic, as I had to provide my college with proof that I was female and not subject to the draft), Dick is played by an Alex, Alexis Arquette, who is now a trans woman.  While still identifying as male, Arquette appeared as George in The Wedding Singer.  Writer/director Fleming (whose DVD commentary is well worth listening to) would appear as a doctor in Easy A, which has its own unique take on adolescent sexuality.

This is by the way, the 200th comedy on my blog, although like many of them, it's not simply a comedy.

The Hudsucker Proxy

The Hudsucker Proxy
March 11, 1994
Warner Bros.
Comedy, Drama, Historical, Sci-Fi
DVD
B-

It's a little odd that I own this movie at all, let alone on DVD.  The simple answer is that a friend regifted it to me several years ago at Christmastime.  I like the movie but it never quite gripped me.  I find it a little distant and forgettable.  It's well-made, but I'm not particularly a Coen Brothers fan.  I respect them and get some entertainment out of their comedies (and dramedies), but, no, I'm not drawn in.  I have similar feelings about the three leads here: Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.  It's no coincidence that I don't own any other movies with Newman or Leigh.

The movie presents a highly fictionalized account of the invention and promotion of the Hula-Hoop.  However, although it's set in 1958, the feel is closer to the mid-'40s, with homages to (among others) Preston Sturges and Frank Capra.  (I'm sure that Robbins's character being named Norville is a nod to Morgan's Creek.)  The film has the same themes of time and redemption as Groundhog Day, but with a much heavier touch.  (Its Magical Negro is also much more obviously controlling time.)  The look and sound of the movie are well done, including such touches as a businessman named Bumstead, as in Dagwood.  But not only did I find myself at times wishing I actually was watching Sturges and Capra, but I also started looking forward to the much giddier (and wiser) Down with Love.

Pat Cranshaw, who portrayed old men for decades in movies and on TV, including in Sgt Pepper (1978), here plays the Ancient Sorter.  Richard Whiting, the Ancient Puzzler here, was a priest in Tootsie and a doctor in Zelig.  Robert Weil, who's the Mail Room Boss, was Co-Op Member #2 in Who's That Girl.  Barbara Ann Grimes, who plays Mrs. Cardoza, was a Flat Tire Lady in Groundhog Day.  Of the board members, Gary Allen was a school teacher in Annie Hall; Jerome Dempsey was Sam and Sid in Tune in Tomorrow...; and Richard Woods would be Reverend Morgan in In & Out.

Charles Durning plays Waring Hudsucker, before and after death.  This time Peter Gallagher is Vic Tenetta, the crooner.  Steve Buscemi has a nice little cameo as the Beatnik Barman.

"You know, for kids!"

Clerks.

Clerks.
January 1994
View Askew/ Miramax
Comedy
VHS
B

The low-budget film that launched a franchise, this Kevin Smith debut (as writer, director, and of course performer as Silent Bob) holds up very well.  Yes, it's dated-- how could such a mid '90s twentysomething movie not be-- but that has added to its bittersweet charm.  That Dante (as in circles of Hell) Hicks (Brian O'Halloran with his goatee and defeatist attitude) and Randal Graves (no need to explain that last name, played by a mostly straight-faced Jeff Anderson) are still stuck in their dead-end jobs a dozen years later (and apparently even beyond, since Shooting Clerks is in production), adds to the poignancy.  I haven't decided which Smith movies I don't yet own I want to get, but this movie is the then unintentional basis of them all, in the way that Sinclair Lewis didn't know he'd be returning to Winnemac when he wrote Babbitt.

There are continuity errors, including within just this movie.  (A heck of a lot of things somehow take place around 4 p.m.)  The movie is '90s proud of its budget, from the black & white simple shots to the sometimes off line delivery.  (I was surprised that Marilyn Ghigliotti has had the most mainstream success, because she's easily the worst of the leads, as Veronica.)  It has the nerve and cynicism of Generation X.  It is also college-age crude in its humor and sometimes characterization.

It is appealing in its What You See Is What You Get attitude, although I can also picture people hating it for those reasons.  It's also very witty, far too witty for its documentary-like feel.  (Juno would later be criticized for similar reasons, that no one, especially this young and working-class, could be that clever.)  But I don't think we're meant to take the movie that literally.  It's more like one day of Worst Customer Ever anecdotes, and if you've never found yourself thinking I'm not even supposed to be here today!, well, you're lucky.  It's an implausible version of relatable reality.

Besides the two pairs of bromantic friends (Smith and a raw 19-year-old Jason Mewes as Jay are of course the other duo), the movie has a number of supporting players who would be in either Chasing Amy and/or Dogma, as well as some other Smith movies I don't own at the present time.  Scott Mosier, who plays William the Idiot Manchild/Angry Hockey-Playing Customer/Angry Mourner; Vincent Pereira, who's Hockey Goalie and Engagement Savvy Customer; and Ernest O'Donnell, who is a Trainer, would all be in both sequels, as would the very versatile  Walter Flanagan (here Woolen Cap Smoker/Egg Man/Offended Customer/Cat-Admiring Bitter Customer).  Virginia Smith, who's the Caged Animal Masturbator here, would be a Con Woman in Chasing.  Kimberly Loughran, who plays Alyssa Jones's little sister Heather, would be Woman in Elevator in Dogma.

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club
October 29, 1993
Buena Vista
Historical, Drama, Comedy
VHS
B

As I said in my review of the novel--http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-joy-luck-club.html--I believe that the movie adaptation is better than the book, although it's not as drastic an improvement as with (The) Enchanted April.  The story is tighter and flows better.  Also, I liked seeing the very expressive faces, with a mostly unfamiliar, mostly Asian cast.  Rosalind Chao was already familiar to me in the mid-'90s, from Diff'rent Strokes and AfterMASH on television, but she does well stepping outside that sitcom environment.  The writing, acting, and direction are generally solid.  (The actresses who portray the mothers as children were much better than you'd expect.)  I didn't cry on this viewing, but I have in the past.

Why not a higher grade?  Two things.  One, I found the music and some other touches to be a bit manipulative.  It made it hard to just submerge myself in the world of the film, no matter whether in China or America, the 1930s or beyond.  And two, well, I had trouble keeping the various characters straight, despite previous viewings and readings.  Perhaps this is racism on my part (although the performers definitely don't "all look alike"), but I've had similar problems with, for instance, Gosford Park.  I'm not at my best with a cast where there are so many main characters.  Also, while there is more sense than in the book how the characters relate to each other-- the Waverly & June rivalry for instance is well done, and we can see how their mothers create it-- I only rarely got a feeling of how this group works as a whole.

Still, the movie holds up well, saved from being dated in part because it's about how things change and don't change across the generations.  There are certainly universal themes (such as the mother-daughter relationship), while at the same time we get to know a particular culture a little better.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day
February 12, 1993
Columbia
Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
DVD
A

This is a modern classic, the only movie I can think of that is on a level with Some Like It Hot.  Like that Billy Wilder movie, this Harold-Ramis-directed-and-cowritten movie has wonderful leads and great supporting players.  (Stephen Tobolowsky is the clear stand-out, as adorably obnoxious Ned Ryerson, but I also enjoy all the little touches Robin Duke adds to her role of Doris the waitress.)  This movie also shares with Wilder, and with Preston Sturges, a successful blend of cynicism and sentiment, although I think this '90s film is ironically much more positive about human nature than many older films.  It goes dark at times-- including in a funny but disturbing suicide montage-- but it also argues that even the most self-centered, miserable man can change his life and the lives of others, if given enough time.

The movie is obviously about time, how it can be an enemy or an ally.  I wasn't sure whether to go with sci-fi or fantasy as the label for one of the film's genres (comedy and romance were easy), because we're never given a definite reason why weatherman Phil Connors keeps repeating the same February 2nd.  There are many theories out there, ranging from the Magical Negro Bartender with his knowing looks to a whack on the head with a snow shovel.  I decided that a time warp is more of a science fiction motif than fantasy, but in the end it doesn't really matter why it happens.  It just matters what Phil does with it.

He does a lot with it, some of it illegal and immoral and fattening, and some of it uplifting.  Over time, Phil falls for his producer Rita and has to figure out how to win her.  He can't just manipulate her, like he does with other women.  She's too smart for that.  So he becomes a better person in every way.

I can't think of any movie that is so simultaneously funny and thought-provoking.  It appropriately improves on repeat viewings.  You know what's coming but you need to see it play out, watch all the variations.  Also, you grow fond of the town, as Phil does, with its Sturges-like eccentrics.

Bill Murray is perfectly cast as Phil, because, as Ramis points out on the commentary, he's got that blend of sweet and nasty.  Also, his ability to improvise serves Phil as well as the humor.  I've never been 100% happy with Andie MacDowell as Rita, but she's grown on me, and this last viewing I appreciated her little reactions when she's not the focus of attention.   I'm not sure if she's why I can't give the film an A+.  I guess a hypothetical A+ movie would have to have all the qualities of both this and Some Like It Hot, like a more memorable soundtrack here.  (Though the Ramis-penned "Weatherman" is cute.)

Bill's big brother Brian Doyle-Murray plays Buster, "the head groundhog honcho."  Rick Overton, who's Ralph here, was Dr. Rick in Earth Girls Are Easy.

Reni Santoni, whose voice was dubbed for the State Trooper, would be a Police Officer in The Brady Bunch Movie.  One of the Flat Tire Ladies, Barbara Ann Grimes, would be Mrs. Cardoza in The Hudsucker Proxy.  Stephen Detherage, who's a News Intern here, would be Al the Concert Shirt Vendor in Music and Lyrics.