Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)

Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)
Oh, to be in England...

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Clueless 1995...A Modern Emma Turns 16!

Clueless 1995 starring Alicia Silverstone Brittany Murphy and Paul Rudd
Clueless is 16 years old this month. Wow, if it was a kid it would be, like, totally going for its drivers license. And we all know how that turned out for Cher!

I'm going to assume that you have all seen this iconic modern interpretation of Jane Austen's Emma.  A thinking persons teen movie if you will.  I hadn't seen it for a while, so it was fun to pop in the DVD again. I had forgotten how funny the film is! So here we go fans!

Alicia Silverstone as Cher in Clueless
Cher: Okay, so you're probably going, "Is this like a Noxzema commercial or what?" But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl.

Tai, Cher and Dionne from Clueless

Cher: Dionne and I were both named after famous singers of the past, who now do infomercials.

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Tai: I could really use some sort of herbal refreshment.
Dionne: Oh, well we do lunch in ten minutes. We don't have any tea, but we have Coke and stuff.
Tai: No shit. You guys got Coke here?
Dionne: Well, yeah.
Cher: Yeah, this is America.

Dionne and Cher from Clueless-Break out the plaid and the knee socks!

Cher: Would you call me selfish?
Dionne: No, not to your face.

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Dionne: Cher's saving herself for Luke Perry.

Justin Walker as Christian from Clueless

Cher: Christian had a thing for Tony Curtis so he brought over "Some Like it Hot" and "Sporadicus".

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Murray: Your man Christian is a cake boy!
Cher, Dionne: A what?
Murray: He's a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde-reading, Streisand ticket-holding friend of Dorothy, know what I'm saying?


Donald Faison as Murray in Clueless
Murray: Woman, lend me fi' dollas.
Dionne: Murray, I have asked you repeatedly not to call me "woman".
Murray: Excuse me, "Ms. Dionne."
Dionne: Thank you.
Murray: Okay, but, street slang is an increasingly valid form of expression. Most of the feminine pronouns do have mocking, but not necessarily in misogynistic undertones.

Brekin Meyer as Travis Birckenstock in Clueless
Travis: I would like to say this. Tardiness is not something you can do on your own. Many, many people contributed to my tardiness. I would like to thank my parents for never giving me a ride to school, the LA city bus driver who took a chance on an unknown kid and last but not least, the wonderful crew from McDonalds who spend hours making those egg McMuffins without which I might never be tardy. 

Twink Caplan as Miss Geist in Clueless
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Dionne: Phat! Did you write that?
Cher: Duh. It's like a famous quote.
Dionne: From where?
Cher: Cliff's Notes.

Totally over-the-top Amber from Clueless
  
Cher: Do you prefer "fashion victim" or "ensembly challenged"?

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Amber: Ms. Stoeger, my plastic surgeon doesn't want me doing any activity where balls fly at my nose.
Dionne: Well, there goes your social life.


Josh and Cher from Clueless

Cher: [Referring to Josh] Okay, okay, so he is kind of a Baldwin.

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Cher: I am totally butt crazy in love with Josh.

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Well, I sure had a few good snorty laughs as I was putting this together for y'all!  And yes, Paul Rudd is still kind of a Baldwin don't you think? I'm off to watch all of the extras on the Special Whatever Edition now!

P.S. There are some nice clips of the late Brittany Murphy in the extras, in which she reflects fondly on making this film. Happier times for her.

Clueless (Special Whatever! Edition)Emma

6 comments:

  1. Dear Jenny:

    I can't believe that I'm first to comment on "Clueless" ... still a big favourite of mine in the lexicon of all things Austen-inspired! Actually, the thing that I really can't believe is how fresh and relatively current the fashions still look (and, conversely, how some teenage boys still dress like the "nervous creatures" that Cher describes in the film - with the baggy pants and the backwards baseball caps ... "As if!") Those high school boys all look like British comedian Harry Enfield's character "Kevin the Teenager"! (And for folks who've never seen the clips, they should search on YouTube - hilarious!)
    I do like this movie - my husband and I saw it together at a drive-in in the summer of 1995 (long before children came along), but now that we have a daughter (only 10 years old) my husband is anticipating using the line that Cher's father used to scare her date into behaving like a complete gentleman when taking her out ... "I have a .45 and a shovel - I doubt anyone would miss you". :)
    And I'm enough of a film geek to love all the extras on the DVD. Gotta watch this again soon.
    Cheers,
    Big Sister

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  2. I knew you would like this post! I have to admit, I had a lot of fun with it. I think I literally laughed out loud at Sporadicus and at the Cliff notes joke. You probably knew that that quote was from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 but I had to look it up. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day..."

    Cher's knowledge of English lit is spotty but at least it exists, rather in the Bridget Jones way. You know, Polonius vs Mel Gibson and then when she says: It's like that book I read in the 9th grade that said "'tis a far far better thing doing stuff for other people." Do I get points for knowing that is from A Tale of Two Cities????

    The girl really is like Emma! (or Miss Jones)

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  3. I didn't think I would like this movie b/c I thought of it as a teenage film, but I thought it was adorable. Paul Rudd certainly added interest.

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  4. Hi Mary,
    Glad you think Paul Rudd is kind of a Baldwin too. He has aged well and I loved him in I Love You Man and Dinner for Schmucks.
    This film has aged well too. Maybe it's the fact that Amy Heckerling got the Emma feel and made it really funny.

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  5. loved this movie. and paul rudd: SWOON!

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