Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Heathers (1988)

Heathersposter89.jpg

Released:  March 31st, 1989
Rated:  R
Studio:  New World Pictures
Staring:  Winona Ryder, Christian Slater
Directed by:  Michael Lehmann
Written by:  Daniel Waters
Personal Bias Alert:  likes dark comedies, went to high school post-Columbine

6 of 10







  

            I went into this film knowing remarkably little.  I thought it was just an ‘80s movie about a clique of popular girls who are overthrown by Winona Ryder’s Veronica, so I sat down expecting a John Hughes-esque version of “Mean Girls.”  Those of you who’ve seen “Heathers” are probably laughing at me, and rightly so considering what I was getting into.

            What the film ended up being was a darkly, darkly (did I say darkly?) comic take on high school movies, eschewing the traditional lampooning in favor of some killer satire.  It doesn’t make jokes as much as it blows everything slightly out of proportion, and in the very near reality of this world everything seems a bit silly.  Veronica’s mom is constantly making pâté, the hippy teacher says things like “I want you all to feel the pathetic beauty,” and pent-up frustrations are dealt with by murdering your fellow students and staging it as a suicide.  Yep, I said straight-up murder.

            New student J.D. (Christian Slater) is behind the trend, and Veronica tentatively goes along with his plans to a point.  After several popular students appear to commit suicide, the school’s population becomes fascinated with the idea, and talking about or attempting suicide becomes almost cool.  It’s a biting indictment of trends and the mindless way some people will follow them, but the social commentary is more the filler to the comedy’s tasty goodness.  When asked the classic question against following trends, the one about jumping off bridges if everyone else did, a student responds simply and hilariously:  “probably.”

            Three paragraphs in and I’ve already thrown out two quotes.  I normally go an entire review without mentioning a single one, but writer David Newman crafted an irresistibly quotable little gem.  The film’s cult status is understandable simply by this calling card.  Remember, this movie was released before the internet was widely used, when you’d have to throw out little references in everyday speech and fish for a twinkle of recognition to find your people.  There’s no mistaking these quotes.

            Now I’m a young doe, so this film was fifteen years old when I was in school.  I didn’t watch it until long after my high school years, and I can’t help but feel that I missed the sweet spot for when this film should be viewed.  Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but I couldn’t help rolling my eyes a bit at its over-the-top judgment of high school.  Not that I ever connected much with such depictions; my own high school experience was rather tame.  I had friends, we hung around, we fought, but the drama never really left the group.  I was by no means popular, but I don’t recall being picked on or teased.  This sort of thing must happen, though, or we wouldn’t be so inundated with depictions of high school as caddy, sadistic battlegrounds.

            “Heathers” violent streak, while oddly prophetic, doesn’t play well for post-Columbine kids like me.  The fear of gun-toting classmates was in full swing by the time I hit adolescence, and the lessons that taught me makes it hard to chuckle when J.D. and Veronica go all Bonnie and Clyde on people.  It doesn’t help that the humor is so pitch dark that it’s hard to tell when they’re joking and when they’re making a point.  Granted, those are often happening at the same time, but my brain simply has trouble finding anything funny when someone’s pulling out a gun in the school cafeteria.

Now while these violent images have taken on a new meaning, I’m sure this was still wildly inappropriate at the time the film was released.  I can imagine Newman, upon being asked why he took such an extreme approach to telling his story, shrugging and slyly answering with his own line:  “The extreme always seems to make an impression.”

            Other Notes
Ø  I’m sorry, but I can’t stand Christian Slater.  He fits the part well, but he’s just too slimy for me to understand the appeal.
Ø  So did this film kick off the overuse of “Que Sera, Sera” in female-centric movies, or was that already a thing?
Ø  Fakest cow-tipping ever.

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