Clueless

Directed by Amy Heckerling, Clueless follows vapid teenager Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) as she sets out to control her high school experience by affecting the fortunes of various figures around her – including a gruff teacher (Wallace Shawn’s Mr. Hall) and an awkward new student (Brittany Murphy’s Tai). Filmmaker Heckerling, working from her own script, delivers a perfectly watchable comedy that boasts its fair share of positive attributes, to be sure, and yet Clueless remains unable to wholeheartedly capture the viewer’s interest and attention for the duration of its 97 minute running time – with the passable yet arms-length atmosphere perpetuated by an often episodic midsection that’s as tedious as it is compelling. It’s clear, then, that Clueless‘ extremely mild success is due predominantly to Heckerling’s frequently clever (and endlessly quotable) screenplay and a proliferation of appealing, memorable performances, with Silverstone’s charming turn as the shallow yet sympathetic protagonist matched by an exceedingly eclectic roster of periphery players (including Paul Rudd, Donald Faison, and Dan Hedaya). The final result is a decent-enough endeavor that holds up reasonably well all these years later, although the relentlessly innocuous vibe prevents Clueless from becoming the iconic teen movie it so desperately wants to be.

**1/2 out of ****