Dazed and Confused

Day 266 - 9/23/09 - Movie #266

BEFORE: Decided to finish films about high school before moving on to higher education - though I guess this film showcases a different kind of "higher" education...

THE PLOT: The adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school, in May of 1976.

AFTER: I'm a little out of my element here, and not just because I didn't attend high school in Texas in 1976 - I wasn't part of the "party crowd" in school - didn't catch on to beer or other substances until college. Silly me, I studied in high school and took extra courses during the summer...

I think I get where they were going with this film, though - it reminds me of "American Graffiti" moved forward into the 70's instead of the 50's (logically, in the next few years we should see the ultimate 90's nostalgia flick). Some things are universal - teens like to drive around looking for beer, sex and drugs, in some order. And seniors like to beat up freshmen - ho hum, I've been there, done that (the getting-beat-up part, not inflicting the beatings). The hazing of incoming freshmen seems particularly cruel in this film, though, and the excessive paddling approaches the "buggering" found in UK prep schools. My issue is - on the last day of school, wouldn't juniors and seniors be focused on getting out for the summer and having fun, not beating up next year's freshmen? Can't that wait until, like, September?

Everything seems very aimless in this film, but I suppose the film is making a point about the futility of high school, and by extension the futility of existence. And I suppose if the film showed the kids who went to summer school or worked summer jobs, it wouldn't be quite as interesting. The attempt is to capture the social politics of high school, and the feeling of a teenage summer, when the road of life stretches out ahead, but there's still time for a party.

"American Graffiti" introduced us to Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Suzanne Somers, along with Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips and a host of also-rans. Of course, Matthew McConaughey was the breakout talent here, playing the ex-football star still hanging out with high-school girls. But Ben Affleck's here too, along with Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Milla Jovovich and (future "CSI: Miami" star) Rory Cochrane. And another host of below-the-radar actors like Wiley Wiggins, Nicky Katt, Cole Hauser and Marissa Ribisi.

My other complaint is that there are so many actors in this film, there's not enough time to get to know most of the characters, so they're reduced to simple stereotypes - the pothead, the football player, the mean cheerleader... If they had just concentrated on a few high-school kids, like in, say "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", the film might have been able to go past skin-deep.

I'm cutting this film a lot of slack because of the killer soundtrack - ZZ Top, Frampton, Foghat, along with War, Ted Nugent, and Steve Miller - proving my point that the 1970's had THE BEST music, and nothing from the 90's or this decade even comes close. The storyline is like a "5" at best, but the soundtrack and the nostalgia factor bump it up to:

RATING: 7 out of 10 mailboxes