Saturday, May 12, 2012

Best Friends, Social Trends and Occasional Murder (LAMB MOTM)

Film: Heathers
Year: 1988
Director: Michael Lehmann
Written by: Daniel Waters
Starring: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, Penelope Milford, Glenn Shadix, Lance Fenton, Patrick Labyorteaux.
Running time: 103 min.

For some reason or another, I prefer watching teenage based movies from the 80s/90s rather than the ones from today. Though the fashions may be dated, the still manage to speak volumes somehow. The teen movies from today shove technology down your throats in order to be seen as "spirit of the times" movie, also focusing on the quirks of the characters instead of telling you anything about the actual characters (see: Restless). But a movie like Heathers, no matter how convoluted and slightly strange the plot is, has a definitive message after 24 years. One that is best understood by teenagers. Except for the ones with their iPhone's right in their eyes. Because they don't really watch movies. They just update their Facebook statuses and say they're watching a movie.

The film appears to be a basic look at the cliques in high school, with the popular group of girls ruling over the school. Veronica (Winona Ryder) is a girl who is half-heartedly part of the popular girls group at her school, a group comprised of three Heather's: the leader Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), the bookish bulimic Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty) and the somewhat weak cheerleader Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk). Despite being part of the most popular, yet widely feared group in the school, Veronica finds herself disillusioned with that life and longs for something different. After a night gone wrong with Chandler, Veronica seeks revenge on her. With the help of rebellious outsider J.D (Christian Slater), she gets her revenge by actually killing Chandler, and then covering it up as a suicide. Before she knows it, she is involved in murders of most of her enemies - people she wanted dead, but did not want to kill - with J.D drawing her into them and covering them up as suicides.


It's funny the way this movie works. I came into it believing it was going to be a bit of a satire, which in a way, it continued to be throughout the entire film. But once the film started getting into the suicide aspect and the wider effect on the school, it was hard for me to know just how much serious thought I was supposed to be putting into it. On one hand, when Heather (Chandler) dies, you feel a sense of happiness considering how horrible she was to everyone. Mixed in with that was the irony of the fact that she was more 'loved' when she was dead rather than when she was alive. It was hard to know whether you could laugh at that, or look at the bigger picture and think that's incredibly sad. Then again, it is your standard black comedy: logic, morality, everything else aside...just see the laughs coming from the darkness. Mind you, the film does switch gears once we delve deeper into the brain of J.D and see how much Veronica wants to get out of this web he's created for her. Comedy or not, J.D was a bit of a dodgy person, and definitely takes the film into some darker places than you would be expecting to find yourself in at the start of it. Imagine what the guy would be like now. Probably as crazy as Christian Slater's film career now.


Despite the fact that I found myself questioning the morality of what was happening and wondering how deep into the darkness of it I should go, Heathers was an extremely entertaining, slightly thought-provoking, and rather honest film. I don't know if it's the kind you'd want to be showing a class filled with pubescents filled with angst (as they could possibly take it the wrong way and the school would end up with a whole lot of suicides), but there are certainly a lot of messages in this film that are worth listening to in these technological times. I think it succeeds so much because it isn't heavy-handed in it's approach. The angst is there, but it isn't shoved down your throat. The lessons are there, you just have to choose whether you want to learn them. Whatever it is, I love it.

Plus, I love Winona Ryder. Someone give her the huge comeback she deserves, pleeeeeeease?

What I got:

13 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE 80s high school comedies (a really great one that's slightly underrated is Fast Times at Ridgemont High). However, when I saw Heathers a while back I did not like it. It was funny, but after a while I got a little bored and found it uninteresting and bothersome. Not a bad movie, though.

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    1. I watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High not so long ago and was slightly uninterested by it. In fact, I've kinda forgotten it now :/

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  2. I love this film. It's like a mixture of Fight Club and Mean Girls for me, so you can understand.

    Big reason for that was Ryder and Slater. Please make her come back!! Also, I too love the 80s/90s teen flicks. This one is no different. I don't tend to go into the morality of things, because I think the film, in its own kooky way, does that.

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  3. Heathers is one of my favourite teen movies, love it, and glad you loved it too!

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  4. Great review! I love Winona so I definetly need to see this one. I hope she has her come back soon, it's just awful she is not in more good films.

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    1. It is awful that she isn't in more good films. Hopefully someone gives her some better roles!

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  5. Very cool post I enjoyed reading this as much as I do watching this movie. Despite the movie's dark themes. It does end on a very uplifting and positive note. Killing all of your enemies won't make them go away because new ones will just sprout up in their place.

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    1. Thanks for choosing this one as MOTM! And yes, you're totally right.

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  6. Very nice review! Increased school violence makes this a weird flick, but you're right to praise this movie and its honesty.

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  7. Nice review! I really enjoyed Heathers, but Christian Slater's Jack Nicholson impression drove me crazy. It's still a fun dark comedy, but I wish Slater would have kicked it down a notch.

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  8. Great review, Stevee! I saw this for the first time at the tender age of 9, before I understood the BS of high school. That didn't matter because I loved it. I knew what was happening within the story, though the themes and satire were lost on me, but as I got older, I discovered the deeper meaning, which made it even more awesome. So this one just bleeds nostalgia for me.

    And count me as a member of the "Bring Wynona Back" fan club! A recent watch of Heathers and Girl Interrupted has me convinced she must still have life in her and needs to be back in big film roles.

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You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

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