Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-11

Quick Words:

Clueless-Silverstone-Playing

Full Text:

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IN "CLUELESS," SILVERSTONE IS MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Just a few days ago, some of you may have tuned into the Fox television

network for the broadcast premiere of The Crush , a predictable, campy

thriller about a crazed 14-year old who falls for an older man. Alicia

Silverstone, who played the "Lolita"-ish role to the hilt, made her bigscreen

debut in this 1993 film. She also gained notoriety soon afterwards as the

"Aerosmith girl," in a series of popular music videos for the chart-topping

rock band.

Silverstone's rise to demi-fame from these two ventures was a bit unsettling.

In both cases, she is put forth as this perky young object for guys, both

young and old, to leer upon. It is one thing for a Sharon Stone to prance

around, but another for a teenage girl to be used in this manner.

Maybe it is my naivete, but I do not believe Silverstone had the power or

control at this early point of her career to say "No" (or "Yes") to certain

things. Definitely not the kind of clout Stone has. (Of course, the argument

can be made that females, no matter how high on the Hollywood star charts, are

compelled to do things their male counterparts are not - but that is a debate

for another time.) In other words, there was something uncomfortably

voyeuristic about watching Silverstone carry on.

But you can forget such problematic issues and chuck all solemnity at the door

when you see Silverstone in Clueless , the hit summer comedy arriving at the

Edmond Town Hall Theatre on September 8. She displays such panache, flair and

comic timing that it will be a while before she gets accused of being just

another pretty face.

Clueless features a crisply-written and knowing script by writer-director Amy

Heckerling, who helmed the 1982 semi-classic, Fast Times at Ridgemont High .

Here, she returns to the high school well to great effect, but with a

different tact - there is the same satirical edge, but with a heightened sense

of sweet affection for the characters and subjects she is skewering.

The movie follows the exploits of Cher (Silverstone), an upper-class student

at a Beverly Hills school. Cher is a credit card's best friend, and the local

mall is her sanctuary. Along with her best friend, Dionne (Stacey Dash) - both

"named after great singers of the past who now do infomercials" - Cher seeks

to right the wrongs of the world, which include playing matchmaker for lonely

teachers and doing makeovers for students in need.

For purely visual jokes, Clueless is hard to beat. There are countless

background shots of female students wearing bandages on their proboscises (can

anyone say nose jobs?) and some nice gags involving the inane fashion trends

of the day among the teen set: designer blue jeans that are baggier than the

Ringling Brothers' big top, or ratty trousers that are worn way below the

waist and somewhere just above the knee.

But the success of Clueless lies in a refusal to let the movie exist as a

one-note sketch of a funny idea. Instead, the film is populated by ultimately

likable characters. This is no small feat considering the cast of characters

includes shallow rich girls, dumb skaters, hip-hop gangsta wannabes, and

pretentious deep-thinkers who read Nietzsche. Heckerling is adept at poking

fun at these stereotypes while also showing a glimmer of the individual

underneath.

Clueless is rated PG-13 for occasional profanity, off-color sexual

suggestiveness and some troublesome mixed messages about drug use. Its

strength is in its light, frivolous take on its subject matter: there is

nothing dire about the state of teens today - just new manifestations of young

peoples' ages-old struggle for acceptance and a striving to be liked.