Dazed and Confused (1993)-"R"

Run Time:103 minutes

3 stars out of 4

Ricahrd Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993) is one of the best portrayals of high school life, close to the level of American Graffiti (1973) or The Graduate (1967). The film may have much of a plot or superb artistic qualities, but the characters are guys (or girls) that you can remember or recognize at your high school. The story follows a bunch of graduating seniors, returning juniors, incoming freshmen, and even a reminiscent long-graduated local (Matthew McConaughhey), on the last day of highschool in June 1976. The senior guys chase down the incoming freshmen boys for the traditional ass-paddling, while the senior girls humiliate the freshmen girls with forced marriage proposals, hotdog fixings, and a carwash. Two freshmen, Mitch Kramer (Wiley Wiggins) and Sabrina (Christin Hinojosa) bear the humiliating and painful initiation experiences and are invited back to an afterwards party by sympathetic upperclassmen, and they are socially redeemed after the day's embarrassments. There is a popular, yet flunked class bully (Ben Affleck), a lovable Stoner (Rory Cochrane), a Varsity football quarterback (Jason London), a trio of interesting yet nerdy outsiders (Marissa Ribissi, Adam Goldberg, and Anthony Rapp), and a slew of other characters easy to identify with real people from high school. Although there is not much of a plot to speak of, it works with the film, like you're actually just cruising along with the kids yourself, looking for a party, cracking jokes, smoking weed, and trying not to worry about the future. This is a truly high school movie: A good time and interesting characters.