Introducing: In Defense Of....
I'm not exactly off to a rip-snorting start to the 52 Posts in 52 Weeks Challenge (TM). Sure, I could have come out of the gate swinging, posting once a day as a statement of purpose, but as I've previously stated, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and I need to be sure to pace myself. And besides, I was a journalist for 10 years. I eat deadlines for breakfast.
Anyway, it became clear to me as I was not posting on my blog all week, that I'm going to need a little help if I'm going to bring home the pie. So like every hack journalist, I'm initiating a new regular feature here on Dabysan in Hammersmith Palais: "In Defense Of..."
Astute readers of this blog will remember the semi-semi-regular feature Guilty Pleasure of the COUGHWeekCOUGH, which pretty quickly degenerated into a cheap excuse for me to post YouTube videos of gangsta rap songs that I like but can't really defend. Well, I'm bored of Guilty Pleasure of the CoughWeekCough, God rest it's soul, and I'm ready to move on to something different, although I'm nowhere near running out of shitty songs that I like. Which brings us to "In Defense Of...," a semi-regular feature in which I will defend (natch) something that has been unfairly maligned or grossly under-appreciated by critics, the Establishment and/or post-ironic hipsters.
First up, Richard Linklater's 1993 classic "Dazed and Confused." I know some cretins who openly dislike this work of cinematic genius. More commonly though it is dismissed as a likable but forgettable comedy favored by marijuana enthusiasts.
Well I haven't smoked pot in more than a decade and I say it's time to start calling Dazed and Confused what it is: 1) Richard Linklater's finest film, 2) one of the best comedies of the 1990s, and 3) the apex of both Ben Affleck's and Matthew McConaughey's careers.
My theory of why otherwise discerning people fail to grasp the genius of this movie is that they get too hung up on a) the goofy period wardrobe and b) the drugs, when really the film is about neither of those things (the above clip notwithstanding). It's about the crushing boredom of high-school life and the social bonds we form to survive it, and it does as good a job capturing that dynamic as any film ever has. Put those kids in 280 Zs instead of Malibus, and make their jeans a little baggier, and that could have been my high-school, or yours, or anyone's. Linklater made a brilliant choice to cast actors of high school age or close to it, and his naturalistic dialogue and script compliment them perfectly.
Defense rests. Go watch it a again.
Done, and with 23.5 hours to spare. Piece 'o cake.
Comments
Jodi: You should be comforted in knowing you're at least not as wrong as Hotrod.
Did Crunch write this?
Anyway, I'm not wrong, but I will grant that you are right about one thing. Linklater has made five movies starring the unwatchable Ethan Hawke, the tedious "Slacker," the insipid "School of Rock," and an unnecessary "Bad News Bears" retread. So yeah, "Dazed and Confused" is the best of the lot. Faint praise, indeed.
Richard Linklater created a film masterpiece despite the track record of the cast. I don't know where the term "better movie" comes from since I'm not comparing it to anything else. I'm only showering Linklater with justified praise. As Daby said, defense rests.
"Better movie: refers to what might have been achieved had he hired a competent ensemble of actors. I realize this is not the movie's only shortcoming - the script sucks too - but I'm just responding to your weak argument. It's hardly surprising, though, that Linklater's cast is so dreadful. Guys like Scorsese choose to work with a DeNiro over and over again. Linklater's DeNiro is Ethan fucking Hawke. It's no wonder his casts suck so hard.
"Dazed and Confused" is not a "masterpiece." It's the highlight of extraordinarily lackluster career. If Linklater had gone into a field that actually holds its practitioners accountable, he'd have been out of work long ago.
I realize that this blog's terms and conditions require all comments to be inflammatory ("Obviously germanium is the lamest metalloid, you stupid cow!"), but I found Dazed & Confused just...eh. The buzz-and there was a good bit-was that this was a new Fast Times, but it was mildly amusing, nothing more.
I guess these were Affleck and McConaughey's finest roles. But considering the other possibilities-"preppy asshole" in Mallrats, and "playing nude bongos", respectively-that's some pretty underwhelming praise.
If anything, Dazed and Confused was the new American Graffiti, a coming-of-age film set in a readily identifiable segment of our recent American past. If you were expecting Spicolli moments from Dazed and Confused, I have no doubt you were disappointed.
The iconic moment in Fast Times is Phoebe Cates doffing her bikini top. The other top contender is Spicolli having a pizza delivered to his history class. Fast Times is still essentially a situation comedy with high-school as the setting. Dazed and Confused is a naturalistic film about high school that is often funny.
Ah, yes, many is the sitcom with a hilarious abortion scene.
I like Animal House, but it doesn't have that much in common with Fast Times.
I tried to give you an out, Daby, by suggesting it might have been a while since your last viewing. But if you've watched the film as an adult and you still think of it as a madcap sex comedy, you've seriously missed the point. It's every bit as much a coming-of-age film as "Dazed and Confused" and not nearly as stupid.
Every scene involving Spicolli is an over-the top caricature. The football sequence with Forrest Whitaker and his super-human response to his destroyed car is completely over the top. The Cates Scene is completely over (without) the top. The film is not naturalistic at all, or if it is, it blends its naturalistic elements with over the top comedy elements...like Animal House. If you'll recall, Boon and Katy have several human conversations in between food-fight sequences.
And neither of you have mentioned -- probably because it further undercuts your already weak arguments -- that Fast Times ends IDENTICALLY to Animial House, complete with the goofy captioning invented by that film.
Not to mention the confrontation between Bluto Blutarsky and Dean Wormer is replaced with Jeff Spicoli and Mr. Hand.
Although, I can't say I've seen an episode of Blossom.