Clueless in ’21

For 2021, there is one word that sums up the politicians, the media, and the medical profession: clueless. The world has suffered another year of ever-shifting policies, advice, and mandates. There is only one kind of “Clueless” that I can endure, and that’s the timeless 1995 comedy starring Alicia Silverstone.



Perfectly cast, Silverstone plays Cher, the ever-cheerful Beverly Hills High School student who loves to make people’s lives better through makeovers and matchmaking.



Director/writer Amy Heckerling (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”) loosely based her story on the 1815 Jane Austen novel “Emma.” As Heckerling recalled, the studio execs couldn’t understand a teen movie that wasn’t “one of those slob comedies, and so what’s the point of a high school comedy that’s not like a raunchy high school comedy? So nobody wanted it, which was really depressing, and so they put the movie in turnaround.… People like happy movies and I certainly don’t feel like I was treating that age group with disrespect; it was like a fun version of a classy kind of world for teenagers. It was not like, ‘Oh my God, look at what kids are doing now!’ It was like here, this is what’s going on, kind of, not really, but not really, but fun…happy.” Originally written as a TV show, the script landed in the hands of  producer Scott Rudin, who “got it” and saw the potential of elevating it to a movie. A bidding war between the studios resulted in Paramount being the winner.

Bill Pope, Director of Photography: “It revolutionized teen movies by raising the bar. Teen movies were just sort of tossed off; they didn’t realize the teens were the smart ones, that you could actually make a movie with something in it.” Wallace Shawn (Mr. Hall): “It’s a smart movie. It doesn’t assume that the audience is stupid; it doesn’t assume that the audience is nasty. It assumes the audience is smart, intelligent, and clever.”



The casting was truly perfection; the three female leads are Silverstone, Brittany Murphy (in her first movie), and Stacey Dash.





The film had an impact on teen fashion and a long-lasting effect on the country’s vernacular. 



As if…whatever…totally bugging…I’m Audi…all still being used today.



Earlier this year, Silverstone reenacted a few scenes from the movie with her eleven-year old son. She has aged very little and still has all the charm of the character that she made famous.



See more Classic Movie photos at my main website.