Genre Guesstimation – Dazed and Confused (1993)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by Jess Manzo of French Toast Sunday and we will be reviewing our favorite Movies that take place over a 24 Hour Time Frame (Not including time loop movies).

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Aug by sending them to 24hrJess@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Jess!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Movies that take place over a 24 Hour Time Frame (Not including time loop movies). ……

“That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.” – Wooderson

Number of Times Seen – Twice (6 Nov 2009 and 17 Aug 2021)

Brief Synopsis – On the last day of school in 1976, the teenagers of both the high school and Jr. high create much fun and havoc in order to bring in the summer properly.

My Take on it – This was one of Richard Linklater’s first films and he shows how much promise he has with this movie.

It is a character driven story that works on numerous levels due to the various story lines constantly intermingling along the way.

This helps with the various dynamics between the vast number of characters who each have different goals as to how they wish to finish up the school year and ring in the summer vacation.

The film is able to transport the viewer back to a time when things were so very differnet, yet still the same.

The up and coming cast is great to watch here and even after nearly 30 years, some of them are quite fondly remembered for their roles in this film.

The problem here is that they have so many characters, it is sometimes harder to differentiate between them or even develop any of them on a much deeper level because they are trying too hard to cram so many stories into a typical run time.

Not the very best film by Linklater, but it still is quite high on that list.

Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The soldier memorial statues to which Michelle (Milla Jovovich) adds KISS make-up were featured more prominently in the shooting script. Several scenes were filmed from their theft to their confiscation by the police. Some of these scenes were included as DVD bonus features, but several have never been officially released. Shortly after this movie’s release, Gene Simmons reportedly purchased the two statues for his private collection. He later sold them at the Butterfield’s KISS Auction in 2000 for $6,000. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Comes really close, but the lack of focus on specific characters takes away far too much.

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)