I had a tough time with this movie. I heard plenty of good things about it and was very much looking forward to watching what is considered a 90s teen movie classic. Try as I might to enjoy my viewing experience, I couldn't quite hurdle the barrier presented by an obnoxious and ruthlessly clueless lead character.
Cher (played with tireless busyness by Alicia Silverstone) is a rich spoiled 15-year-old student who manipulates everyone in her path, occasionally to their benefit. She possesses a pathologically enormous ego that makes it impossible for her to accept criticism or even the slightest suggestion that she is anything less than flawless. In her mind, she can do whatever she wants whenever she wants, and the world should simply bend to her will as soon as she smiles and offers a flimsy explanation.
Cher is meant to be bubbly and charming, but she comes across as unbearable and jarringly self-centered. She deserves a comeuppance or at least some sort of learning moment. I kept waiting for the story to weave its way in that direction, to the moment when she realizes she needs to improve as a person, but it never really happens. Instead, inexplicably yet to the surprise of no one, she gets exactly what she wants. All of it. Shortly after she comes to the realization that she's in love with a certain boy, the two get together. She wins. Does the story have a point? Is there a lesson? Unclear. If anything, we learn that spoiled rich girls get what they want, but we already knew that.
Aside from Cher, many of the other characters are fairly likable. No one jumps off the screen due to a unique personality, but plenty of guys and gals exhibit enough life from scene to scene to make me smile. There's the dopey skater boy, the guy trying way too hard to look cool, the awkward new arrival, and the teachers who tolerate all matters of unacceptable student behavior.
For as much as everyone lacks self-awareness, they show a remarkable acuity for assessing others. Cher rattles off descriptions of the various student groups that make up the school. Her explanations lack depth but so do the characters, so it's hard to hold that against her too much. And Cher isn't the only one capable of these keen observations. Her best friend Dion astutely describes a college guy as going through his "post-adolescent idealistic phase." Though, he is later seen reading a book by Nietzsche, so his nihilistic phase probably isn't far off.
If we had a different lead character/narrator, I probably would have enjoyed this movie much more. Alas, Cher put a hard cap on this movie, preventing it from rising to anything beyond a mediocre and forgettable shrug.
Cher (played with tireless busyness by Alicia Silverstone) is a rich spoiled 15-year-old student who manipulates everyone in her path, occasionally to their benefit. She possesses a pathologically enormous ego that makes it impossible for her to accept criticism or even the slightest suggestion that she is anything less than flawless. In her mind, she can do whatever she wants whenever she wants, and the world should simply bend to her will as soon as she smiles and offers a flimsy explanation.
Cher is meant to be bubbly and charming, but she comes across as unbearable and jarringly self-centered. She deserves a comeuppance or at least some sort of learning moment. I kept waiting for the story to weave its way in that direction, to the moment when she realizes she needs to improve as a person, but it never really happens. Instead, inexplicably yet to the surprise of no one, she gets exactly what she wants. All of it. Shortly after she comes to the realization that she's in love with a certain boy, the two get together. She wins. Does the story have a point? Is there a lesson? Unclear. If anything, we learn that spoiled rich girls get what they want, but we already knew that.
Aside from Cher, many of the other characters are fairly likable. No one jumps off the screen due to a unique personality, but plenty of guys and gals exhibit enough life from scene to scene to make me smile. There's the dopey skater boy, the guy trying way too hard to look cool, the awkward new arrival, and the teachers who tolerate all matters of unacceptable student behavior.
For as much as everyone lacks self-awareness, they show a remarkable acuity for assessing others. Cher rattles off descriptions of the various student groups that make up the school. Her explanations lack depth but so do the characters, so it's hard to hold that against her too much. And Cher isn't the only one capable of these keen observations. Her best friend Dion astutely describes a college guy as going through his "post-adolescent idealistic phase." Though, he is later seen reading a book by Nietzsche, so his nihilistic phase probably isn't far off.
If we had a different lead character/narrator, I probably would have enjoyed this movie much more. Alas, Cher put a hard cap on this movie, preventing it from rising to anything beyond a mediocre and forgettable shrug.