Johnny Dangerously (1984)

Director: Amy Heckerling

Cast: Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner, Peter Boyle

Have I Seen it Before: I can reach into memories of the distant past to a screening on cable. Is this the last movie I saw for the first time on cable? I certainly can say that I’m probably never going to see another movie for the first time on cable. It’s almost sad...

Did I Like It: I think I’m under an obligation—with the amount of writing I’ve done about the films of Michael Keaton—to say that I unequivocally do like the film.

And yet...

Everyone here (yes, even Piscopo) feels like they’re working against their strengths. In an attempt to be a Mel Brooks/ZAZ-esque take on gangster films of the, Amy Heckerling feels more at home with the more grounded comedies that made up the eventual highs of her career in Clueless (1995) and Fast Time At Ridgemont High (1982). That’s not a terribly bad mark against her as a director, as the ZAZ team eventually became involved in hum-drum fare like Mafia! (1998) and things so foul on spec, they’re not even worth watching in the first place, like An American Carol (2008). Even Brooks whiffed out in the end. Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) was certainly a sour end. Hell, plenty of people like Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993) and Spaceballs (1987) but neither have ever done much for me.

I’m stalling, I know. Is Keaton any good in the film? It’s always a delight to see him, but he’s playing the role largely straight here, with none of the anarchic qualities that introduced him to movie audiences in Night Shift (1982) and he perfected in Beetlejuice (1988). It’s hard to say that I don’t particularly care for a Michael Keaton picture, but if I’m not laughing, and he’s distressingly bland in the whole thing, it’s hard not to confront reality.

Clueless (1995)

Director: Amy Heckerling

Cast: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd

Have I Seen it Before: Yes. I have a very strong memory of watching it for the first time on HBO. I’m allowing for the possibility as I spent the 90s growing up with a younger sister that I *may* have watched all of it in bits and pieces as it wound its way through a VCR in multiple viewings over the year. It’s only fair, I’m sure my sister saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) in much the same way.

Did I Like It: I recently wrote in my review of Natural Born Killers (1994) that it may not be fair to judge satire by the effectiveness with which it annihilated its target through wit. It’s even less fair here, as the wealthy continued to grow vapider as we’ve leapt into the twenty-first century. Indeed, many probably viewed the Cher Horowitz of this film’s first and second act as the hero of their times and ignored any of the changes she went through at the end of the movie.

But this movie strikes me as way funnier, or at the very least more deliberate in its attempts at humor. The jokes land with mor accuracy when the movie is not trying to buzz its way past my perception.

It’s also worth marveling at the fact that this one of the few teen comedies that does not feel the need to predicate its third act on some kind of dance or prom. I’ve been racking my brain for other examples as I type this, and all I can come up with is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and The Breakfast Club (1985) and the specific settings and timeframe of both of those films are the only thing protecting them from defaulting to the trope. Clueless gets bonus points for not tracking in the same tired old beats.