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Clueless (1995)



"And may I remind you that it does not say RSVP on the Statue of Liberty.." -- Cher, taking the pro-immigration position

You can be clueless about this movie being a modern-day adaptation of Emma, but if you've never specifically watched it as Emma, then give it a shot. Watch a version of Emma first and then watch Clueless. I just did that, and I'd say it adds at least a 1/2 star to my rating. Cher (Alicia Silverston) is completely Emma. She's trying to match people, fix people, and figure herself out. And the whole movie ends with a wedding, just as it should. Let's briefly highlight the Emma of Clueless.
Wallce Shawn found himself in this one, playing Mr. Hall, Cher's high school Debate teacher. He looks small and thin in this role, and I noticed that he's about 52 when he played this part... which is sick, because that's my current age. Somehow Mr. Hall hands out Cs to Cher and her friends. How dare he?
(By the way, Cher narrates the story throughout the film. Who is she talking to, and why?)
Okay, on to the Emma highlights: Cher starts looking to set up Mr. Hall, because she assumes getting him boinked will help her grade. Cut to the Teacher's Lounge. And the pickings for Mr. Hall are slim indeed. But there is Miss Geist (Twink Caplin), and Cher's efforts pay off. Hall and Geist start dating, student grades go up and homework goes down. I have to admit I never thought about this part of the story being straight out of Emma, but it is, and yeah, Cher is selfish, although Dionne (Stacy Dash) promises she'd never say so to her face. (Props to Stacy Dash, playing the world's oldest high school student... I think she was at least 27 or 28 playing this role.)
Cher thinks she's a good person, trying to make a positive difference in the world, and to a certain extent, she does make a positive difference. Her step-brother Josh (Paul Rudd) likes her (but both he and Cher are clueless about their attraction for one another for most of the movie.) Josh spends most of the movie glancing at her in admiration, but vocally, he criticizes her for taking "people even more clueless than you," like Tai (Brittany Murphy) and treating them like science projects. Nevertheless, while Emma may be narcissistic and self-interested, she also seems to have a good heart. She's easy to like and easy to root for.
At one point Tai starts to like Josh, and this causes Tai and Cher to have a brief falling out after Cher tells her that Josh isn't the right person for her. It takes a minute, but it's then that Cher realizes that Josh is the right person for herself.
As Cher notes at the ending, she's only 16, so the movie cannot end with Cher and Josh getting married, but it does wrap up nicely with Mr. Hall and Miss Geist tying the knot.
Without paying attention to the Emma, I've always like Clueless, but by paying attention to the Emma, I REALLY like Clueless. Not quite to 5 stars, but a really solid 4.5 stars.

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