Wednesday Review: Dazed and Confused

Hey guys, I’m back with Wednesday Reviews! In one of my classes this semester we watch a movie every week, so I’ll be providing a review for each movie we watch. Not only will I be doing my school work, I’ll also be giving you guys some insight into more of a variety of films that I would otherwise not be reviewing. So let’s begin my new set of Wednesday Reviews!

This week I’ll be reviewing the film Dazed and Confused, a Comedy Drama set in 1976 about a group of high school students on the last day of school and going out with a bang. Most of the names on the cast and crew list are nameless faces to me, so I don’t really have any idea what this film will be like, I also know nothing about the film as I’ve never seen it myself (though from what I’ve gathered so far from reading about it there will be a lot of drugs, alcohol, and sexual themes throughout the film). So I’ll jump right in here and get started.

Dazed and Confused Title Card

Review after the break.

The film opens with a fade into “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith while a montage of various events appear on screen. These events include a girl rolling a joint, people hanging out in the parking lot, a guy working in shop class, some nerds at a table at lunch, and some black guys gambling. Hmm, I just realised my insensitive nature may be offensive to some people who may read this blog ... oh well.

So I’m supposed to be looking for thematic elements and fictional and dramatic elements for my class, so unless I get distracted, there will probably be a lot on those elements in this review.

Man, I have a hat like that guy! Only a different colour.

Best line I’ve laughed at in a while. In an undertone as he walks away “I am so wasted.” Don’t know why I found that funny ... just did.

Not sure why the socially awkward guy told his friend about the Abe Lincoln dream ... maybe it’s a reference to his homosexuality? Or maybe the writer’s just thought it was funny. Either way, I found it to be pointless. I hope the film isn’t filled with things like that.

Hmm ... the socially awkward guy kinda reminds me of Minkus from Boy Meets World.

This film is throwing a lot of characters at me at the beginning of the film and I have no idea who I should be paying attention to most or who is just background characters. I really hope everyone featured so far isn’t a prominent character, which would be too much to focus on for the film.

I love how the high school kids show up at junior high to threaten the kids, and all the teacher does is laugh.

Some of the kids at school.

Nice music track for this film.

Man, I wish there was a slide outside a window at one of my old schools. That would have been awesome!

So let me get this straight. At the end of the school year, the high school seniors attack the middle school seniors, the guys paddle the guys and the girls ... put pacifiers in the girl's mouths? Uuuummm ... okay.

Woah ho! That mom just pulled a shot gun on the senior! A little extreme don’t you think?

Attacking the freshman before they even get into high school ... man these guys are pretty eager.

The guy with the mullet seems to be one only one who is intelligent enough to realise how idiotic this whole thing is.

Just seeing all the initiation processes in this film makes me glad that school is different nowadays. At least in Canada anyway.

What the hell?! They grab this girl, put her through crap, then turn around and invite her to a party! Where’s the logic in all this?!

Well that was interesting. I was just shown a shot of girls using some kind of tool to zip up their pants. My guess is they’re too big for their jeans, but in the desire to look thin they force themselves to wear clothing despite the fact it doesn’t fit them.

Paddling the freshman for initiation.

Well ... now I get that reference from that one episode of Family Guy...

Every girl in this film is dimwitted. That is a very poor reflection on women in society. Most girls aren’t like that, but this film will only make younger audience members want to be like that out of pressure to be popular, when in reality it does nothing for them.

This movie is so far a disappointment.

Some of the shots they use are pretty interesting, not something you find in common Hollywood movies these days. They use slow motion effects for common things, whereas slow motion nowadays is only used for action scenes for the occasional dramatic effect. They used slow motion when a group of guys walked into a party. Nothing spectacular, but good to see something different for a change.

What the crap is this? Why did it show a bunch of kids at a dance? Where did this come from?

Oh man! That line is from this movie? “That’s what I like about high school girls. I get older, they keep staying the same age.”

Revenge!

HA! The kids got the douchebag senior back! Now that’s something I like to see. Good old fashioned revenge.

Ah yes, having a drunk, meaningful conversation about life decisions. How wonderful those times are.

One of the geeky kids decides to get some payback on an asshole who aggravated him earlier then he got the crap beat out of him. I feel sad for the guy, nothing is going right for him. But he’ll probably get him back years from now when he’s a corporate lawyer and the asshole is some drugged up nobody.

Well I’m glad that surprisingly every plot point that appeared in the film was resolved in some form or another.

I wouldn’t know most of the characters names if it weren’t for the picture credits at the end of the film.

Well all in all the movie was subpar at best, though I’m sure many will argue its brilliance. I, however, found the movie to be unentertaining for the most part. The plot was a garbled mess, it was hard to get a grasp on the characters, and there were few interesting shots. The only good things were the fact that the movie came across as what it was intended to come across as, a movie that felt like one big party where you have no idea what is going on.

This is not my cup of tea, so I’ll only give it 5/10 man!

Gettin' high.