Cast:
Alicia Silverstone (Cher Horowitz), Stacey Dash (Dionne Davenport), Brittany Murphy (Tai Frasier), Paul Rudd (Josh Lucas), Dan Hedaya (Melvin "Mel" Horowitz), Elisa Donovan (Amber Mariens), Justin Walker (Christian Stovitz), Wallace Shawn (Mr. Wendell Hall), Twink Caplan (Ms. Toby Geist), Julie Brown (Coach Millie Stoeger), Donald Faison (Murray Duvall), Breckin Meyer (Travis Birkenstock), and Jeremy Sisto (Elton Tiscia) Written and Directed by Amy Heckerling (#982 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High and #1060 - National Lampoon's European Vacation)
Review:
"I was writing a character that I thought was the very opposite of myself, a character that was really happy and if there was any negative criticism, she just didn’t take it seriously because she had confidence, and if her father was angry she thought he was just being cute. So I ran with that and just looked for sources of happy characters to get inspiration from. The two big things, of course, were Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Emma."
It is interesting to note the comedic career of Amy Heckerling, one with nine films to her credit that have had their range of successes more so than misses. The New York University and the American Film Institute graduate had attracted interest upon making short films while studying at the latter that invited Universal Pictures to want her on board for what became her debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Most of her films fall under the category comedy in some way, such as the Look Who's Talking series (for which she directed the first two) that resulted in some success while others like Johnny Dangerously (1984) and Vamps (2012) have seen more mixed favor. It all started with the idea to make a television series about teenagers. Specifically, 20th Century Fox wanted Heckerling to make one about the "in-crowd", and so Heckerling felt she could make one about making fun of. At any rate, 20th Century Fox would not through with the idea for either a show or a film, with one complaint reportedly that that there was one too many women in the script (they also had a quibble with ex-stepsiblings falling for each other); it was producer Scott Rudin that helped get the film moving, as he liked the script enough to inspire a bidding war, for which Paramount Pictures won the rights that would help get production started. A television series would be developed by Heckerling, which she wrote/directed four of the first nine episodes for upon its premiere on ABC in 1996; the show featured Dash, Faison, Donovan, Caplan, and Shawn in their roles from the film while the series lasted three seasons. A series of teen novels and a stage musical have also happened, with the latter being written by Heckerling. The connection to Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma is an interesting one: when Heckerling had started on the script, she aimed to do one about a girl packed with optimism that ended up resembling Emma (which she read in college and re-read again), so essentially one can called it an inspired rendition that happens to take place in Beverly Hills, complete with characters similar to main ones in the book.
25 years later, the film was a fair hit with audiences, no doubt having a legacy that extends beyond its slang and career-making turns for its stars, whether that means "keeping it real" or other various segments that make for some charming moments. It certainly achieves what it wants to do in making a sweet little comedy with an edge for balancing its characters to where they aren't being used as just the butt of jokes or being just a bunch of privileged weird folk. Beyond being an entertaining piece for the 1990s, it manages to grow the mold of the teenager films that came before with snappy patience and style that still evokes interest after all these years for all the right reasons (and the fact that the film gets away with age is quite relevant: Dash was actually two years older than Rudd, and the latter was a 26-year old playing a college student). Silverstone was a model that had started acting with television before landing her first film role with The Crush (1993), which helped with being featured in a trilogy of music videos for Aerosmith; it was these video performances that led Heckerling to cast her, the sibling of two British parents raised in California She manages to play the role with a great balance of sincerity and amusement that is unwavering in charm, never grating in all of that optimism because of she waves it off with confidence (whether in stoking love for others or learning to drive). Dash accompanies her with well-off enthusiasm, bright and amusing in those interactions spent with Faison that make quite a pair. Murphy, in her second film role, manages to do so well in showing a bright disposition that grows through the film with no wavering or a false "cutesy" note. This happens to be the film debut of Rudd (although technically Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was actually filmed first) - he counters the idealism of Silverstone with clear amusement in irreverence that make for a clear pairing despite those initial differences that you see before it resolves itself well enough. Hedaya plays the role with a mix of amusement in tough-guy patriarch that nevertheless resonates with Silverstone for sweet resonance. Others do well in smaller emphasis, such as the retro-disposition in Walker or calm foils in Shawn and Caplan or the aforementioned Faison. Ultimately, 97 minutes go just fine with a film detailing the amusement that can come from teenaged lives that deal in materialism with sly insight for romance that still stands tall for itself in clues then as now.
Next Time: The Savages (2007).
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
