I was looking to see New Mutants this weekend at the local drive-in, but for the second week in a row, it was sold out when I went to buy tickets. So, that meant looking through my various watchlists to knock off something I hadn’t seen yet. I ended up selecting two, the first of which was Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused.
Linklater is one of those directors whose work I think I need to see more of, and this was one of his earliest successes. So, why not?
Dazed and Confused doesn’t really have a plot. Instead, it’s a slice of life following about a dozen teenagers on the last day of school. Most of them are seniors, the rest are incoming freshmen who need to be hazed because some people enjoy the humiliation of others a little too much. Most of the movie follows these kids around as they look to enjoy themselves, engage in meaningless conversations, and partake in drugs and drink. And then the sun comes up and the next day starts and that’s that.
Movies like this exist mostly to show people doing their thing every day. No one really learns a lesson, comes out of the events as a better or worse person, makes great progress towards some goal, or anything along those lines. It’s just a day in a life. And as one of those, the movie works. There’s a great soundtrack of contemporary songs, the look of the movie sure does look like 1976 in all its gaudy glory, and the general directionlessness of a group of teenagers who don’t really know what they want out of life beyond just having a good time right now is accurate.
Now, much can be made of the cast. While a good number of them haven’t really become household names, there are a few in particular that have nice careers going even today like Milla Jovovich, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, Adam Goldberg, and in a small role Renee Zellweger (in a larger role is Joey Lauren Adams who sure is a lot like Zellweger in many ways). But then there’s Matthew McConaughey as Wooderson.
Wooderson is the role that more or less made McConaughey’s career as it is emblematic of the many ways people see him even now as the easy-going stoner type guy. But upon seeing the movie, it sure does seem as if Wooderson is, well, something of a loser. He’s a high school grad who still hangs out with high schoolers to party and do whatever as he drifts through life. He’s the kind of guy a teenager would think is awesome but that an adult (like me) would see another side of. And, quite frankly, McConaughey is great in the role all the same. The superficial qualities that make him someone the kids would want to hang out with, and he doesn’t really care what others think, and that’s what makes his performance so good.
So, as a story, Dazed and Confused may not add up to much, but as an experience, it’s a fun ride of a movie.
Grade: B+
0 Comments