Clueless

BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:

Clueless. Heckerling, Amy, writer and director. DVD. Paramount. Release Year: 1995. ASIN B0009W5IP6

PLOT SUMMARY:

Cher is a high school student in Beverly Hills. Cher is a matchmaker. She sets up two of her teachers with success. When Tai transfers to her school, Cher takes her under her wing. She tries to set Tai up with popular Elton. Cher also has a huge crush on the new guy Christina. When both matches backfire, Cher decides that she needs a spiritual makeover. She is a smart girl with excellent negotiating and problem solving skills; done the Cher way. When Cher realizes that she has feelings for the person she least expected to, he world is turned upside down.

CRITICAL EVALUATION:

Clueless is a great romantic teen comedy loosely based on Jane Austin’s Emma. It reflects teens in a funny yet true way. Many people see teens as just teens, not taking the chance to get to know them better. Cher is kind-hearted and truly means well. She lives in the perfect world. But like life, things do not go as planned for the first time in her life. Cher decides to really take a look at herself and realizes that she was insisting that what other people wanted was the same thing that she wanted. This is a great way to show a classic coming of age story. Teens will be able to laugh at the teen milestones like driving and sex. Teens will be able to relate to this movie as well as find it entertaining.

READER’S ANNOTATION:

Cher is a teen living in Beverly Hills. She likes to play matchmaker. But now things are not going according to her plan.

WRITER AND DIRECTOR:

Heckerling was born in The Bronx to a bookkeeper mother and a certified public accountant father. The family moved to Queens. She attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, graduating in 1970, and studied film at New York University,[2] where one of her teachers was noted screenwriter and satirist Terry Southern. She received her master's degree from the AFI Conservatory.

Heckerling's first feature film was Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982. Her next film was a parody of gangster films called Johnny Dangerously.Heckerling also directed the second of the Vacation films, National Lampoon's European Vacation. She again had a massive hit with Look Who's Talking (1989).

She wrote and directed an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma called Clueless.
1999, Amy received the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.

The next year, Heckerling directed and produced Loser, a romantic college comedy. The film was not successful at the box office.

Heckerling's most recent project was the romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd, which did not receive a theatrical release in the United States. Heckerling also directed an early episode of the NBC version of The Office.
She is currently directing the horror-comedy film Vamps with Sigourney Weaver, Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter, about two vampires who fall in love and must face a choice that could jeopardize their immortality. (Unknown, Amy Heckerling)

GENRE:

Fiction, Comedy, Romance, Movie

CURRICULUM TIES:

New York State: None

BOOK TALKING IDEAS:

Not Applicable

READING LEVEL/INTEREST AGE:

Age 13 and over

CHALLENGE ISSUES:

None

In order to prepare yourself should this movie be challenged you may wish to take the following steps:

•Watch the movie or familiarize yourself with the movie and its plot.
•Refer to the library’s collection development and circulation policy.
•Read movie reviews from sources such as Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times.
•Seek the opinion of teen readers that have seen the movie.

Should this movie be challenged you should follow the additional steps below:

•Advise the senior staff of the challenge.
•Let the patron know that their challenge will be filed and that senior library management will review their request and notify them once a decision has been made.
•Offer any further assistance should the patron have additional questions.

WHY DID I INCLUDE THIS BOOK?

It is great movie specifically for teens