Review of Dazed and Confused (1993) by Movie G — 23 Aug 2011

Dazed & Confused is definately a movie thats underappreciated in my opinion. While it does indeed have a 98% on here from critics and an 89% from users, I find yoo many of them don't appreciate it for the right reasons. One of the most recent reviews claimed it was "The best stoner movie of all time" and many say it has "endless laughs". Sure it's a funny movie, but I think a lot of people are the missing the fact that writer/director Richard Linklater has created the greatest and most accurate portrait of teenagers in a small town in the history of film.

The films plot is very loose. It's the last day of school in the 75-76 year. That's all. It just follows all sorts of different characters around in this 24 hour period. A lot of characters sort of have there own mini-stories, like Pink's quitting the football, O'Bannon chasing down the freshman, or Mitch trying to fit in with the older crowd instead of his old freshman friends. It's hard not to compare it to George Lucas' American Graffiti, which also tells the story of a group of very different teenagers on one night, each going through there own plot of sorts, while listening to some amazing music. The only real differences are that American Graffiti is set in 1962, and the characters are a little more cartoonish whereas Dazed & Confused gets them all 100% accurate. Dazed & Confused really is the next Generation's American Graffiti, Meant to be looked at with nostalgia and remind you of all the stupid stuff you once did. I wasn't alive when this movie was made, but I can still honestly say I know someone who reminds me of every single character.

The film at heart is an ensemble piece. It contains so many fantastic performances, from many actors like Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, & Milla Jovovich who would go on to become very successful. Wiley Wiggins plays the smooth but scared Freshman Mitch and its probably the best performance in the movie, but for straight comedy its either McConaughey or Rory Cochrane. McConaughey plays David Wooderson, the guy who is like 27 but still hangs out with teenage kids. He's funny, endlessly quoteable and gives probably the most famous line from the movie "That's what I love about these high school girls, I get older, they stay the same age". Rory Cochrane plays Slater, a completely clueless stoner. He's hilarious, perfectly acted and is usually the one people are referring to when they call this a "Stoner Movies". Ben Affleck also has one of his best performances ever as O'Bannon, they guy who loves punishing freshman so much he purposely got held back so he could keep doing it. Adam Goldberg also gives a memorable performces but I can't explain them all, so you'll just have to see it to know what I mean.

The films music is probably the greatest ever. It's just a collection of 70s rock for the most part, but its undeniably addictive, it sets the tone, and is used well in scenes like Alice Cooper's No More Mr. Nice Guy in the scene where the seniors chase and hit the freshman with paddles, Bob Dylan's Hurricane in the scene in the Emporium, the groups local hang out spot, and Love Hurts in the hilariously accurate depiction of a junior-high dance. I suppose it would depend on what you think of this type of music, but I firmly believe it's the greatest soundtrack ever.

The films dierction is actually pretty good for this type of movie. It contains a lot of interesting camera angles and is really good at showing the incredibly large cast of characters, so kudos to Richard Linklater.

Linklater also wrote the script which is also very funny. As I mentioned the film has so many memorable quotes, and all the characters have so many weird but hilarious discussions, my personal favourite being when Slater tells the rest about how George Washington and his wife used to grow Marijuana at the White House to make ends meet.

As I mentioned before msot people go to this movie for comedy, and theres a lot of it, but the movie is actually of coming of age tale of sorts, at least for the two main characters Pink & Mitch. Pink realizes by the end he's a grown up and he can do what he want, and Mitch realizes sort of the same concept in that he finds out he's not a kid anymore. It's kind of hard to explain so you'll just have to watch it to see that.

All in all Dazed & Confused is an absolute masterpiece of epic proportions. It's not even like a movie, it's like a documentary team came to youre highschool and filmed you. I don't think anyone should miss it. Quite simply Dazed & Confused is one of the Greatest films of all time.