| Clueless | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Amy Heckerling |
| Written by | Amy Heckerling |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | Alicia Silverstone |
| Cinematography | Bill Pope |
| Edited by | Debra Chiate |
| Music by | David Kitay |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million[2] |
| Box office | $88 million[3] |
Clueless is a 1995 Americancoming-of-ageteencomedy film written and directed byAmy Heckerling. It starsAlicia Silverstone, and was produced byScott Rudin andRobert Lawrence.
The film is a loose adaptation ofJane Austen's 1815 novelEmma. The plot centers on a beautiful, popular, wealthy high school student who wants to do "good deeds". She befriends a newcomer and decides to give her amakeover while playing matchmaker for her teachers and examining her own existence.
Clueless was filmed inSouthern California over a 40-day schedule. Heckerling studiedBeverly Hills High School students to understand how teenagers in the 1990s talked and learned some appropriate slang terms from them.
The film grossed $88 million worldwide, and was further successful in thehome video market.[4] It received positive reviews from critics and is considered to be one of the best teen films of all time.[5][6][7][8]Clueless has developed acult following and has a continuing legacy. The film was followed by a spin-offtelevision sitcom andseries of books.
Cher Horowitz, a stylish, popular, and good-natured teenager, lives in aBeverly Hills mansion with her wealthy father, Mel, a grufflitigator; her mother died during aliposuction procedure when Cher was a baby. She attendsBronson AlcottHigh School with her best friend Dionne Davenport, also stylish and from a wealthy family. Dionne has a long-term relationship with popular student Murray Duvall, though Cher believes Dionne should be dating more mature men. Josh Lucas, the socially conscious son of Mel's ex-wife from a brief marriage, visits Cher and her father during a break from college. When Cher points out that they have not been linked by marriage for more than five years, Mel replies that he divorced his wife, not his stepson. Cher playfully mocks Josh's idealism while Josh teases Cher for her vanity, superficiality, and selfishness.
Initially receiving poor grades on herreport card, Cher renegotiates those with her more lenient teachers but cannot budge the hard-grading Mr. Hall. To soften him up, Cher orchestrates a romance between teachers Mr. Hall and the awkward Miss Geist. As a result, Hall relaxes his standards, allowing Cher to renegotiate the grade. After seeing the teachers' newfound happiness, Cher becomes enthusiastic about doing good deeds. Cher's father professes that he is prouder of her negotiation skills than if she had actually earned her grades.
When a "clueless" transfer student named Tai Frasier arrives at the school, Cher turns her into her next project. She and Dionne make over Tai, giving herprotégé newfound confidence and style. When an amiable but clumsy skateboardingslacker Travis Birkenstock becomes smitten with Tai, who reciprocates, the social-status-conscious Cher tries to extinguish the attraction between Tai and the "unworthy" Travis. Instead, she steers her towards handsome, popular student Elton Tiscia. However, Elton has no interest in Tai and is instead interested in Cher, whom he tries to kiss in his car after a party inSun Valley. When she rebuffs him, he leaves her in a parking lot out of spite, and she is mugged at gunpoint. With no money, Cher's only choice is to call Josh to pick her up. Seeing her attempts at mentoring Tai and volunteering for charities, Josh realizes that despite her superficiality, Cher is sincere.
Christian Stovitz, a handsomemetrosexual new student, immediately attracts Cher's attention, becoming her target for a boyfriend. When Cher goes to a party with him, Josh becomes protective, also attending the party in the process. There, he gallantly rescues Tai when no one asks her to dance. Later inviting Christian to hang out watching a film at her home, Cher tries to seduce him, but he is distracted admiring the male actors in the film and deflects her advances. After Murray informs Cher and Dionne that Christian is gay, Cher decides to remain friends with him, approving his taste in art and fashion.
Cher's privileged life takes a negative turn when Tai's newfound popularity strains their relationship. Additionally, when Cher fails her driving test, for the first time she cannot negotiate to change the result. Her mood worsens when Tai confesses her feelings for Josh to Cher, asking Cher's help in pursuing Josh. Jealous, though oblivious, Cher tells Tai that she is not right for Josh, and the two girls fall out.
Feeling "totally clueless", Cher reflects on her priorities and repeated failures to understand or appreciate the people in her life. She begins to help by performing document review on her father's legal case along with Josh, and they begin to bond. Pondering why she is bothered by Tai's romantic interest in him, Cher finally realizes that she is in love with Josh. After her epiphany, Cher begins making awkward but sincere efforts to live a more purposeful life, including captaining the school'sPismo Beach disaster relief effort. She accepts an invitation from Travis to a skating tournament inLong Beach, where she reconciles with Tai, who is now dating Travis.
Cher and Josh eventually realize their feelings for one another, culminating in a kiss. Some time later, Cher attends the wedding of Mr. Hall and Miss Geist, which she and Josh attend as a couple, along with Dionne, Murray, Tai, and Travis. Cher catches the wedding bouquet and kisses Josh.
The idea forClueless first originated as a television pilot in 1993.[9][10][11] Writer and directorAmy Heckerling said: "Twentieth Century Fox said they wanted a show about teenagers—but not the nerds. They wanted it to be about the cool kids. The most successful character in anything I'd ever done was Jeff Spicoli inFast Times. People think that's because he was stoned and a surfer. But that's not it. It's because he's positive. So I thought, 'I'm going to write a character who's positive and happy.' And that was Cher."[10] Heckerling, having read theJane Austen novelEmma in college and loving thetitle character's positivity, decided to write the script around an Emma-like character, saying, "I started to think, 'What's the larger context for that kind of a 'nothing can go wrong' 'always looks through rose colored glasses' kind of girl? So I tried to take all the things that were in this sort of pretty 1800s world and see what would that be like if it was in Beverly Hills."[9]
"I remembered readingEmma in college and being struck at how much it reminded me of old TV shows likeGidget. There's something so basic about it. I knew[Clueless] would be set in Beverly Hills because it's a hyper-pastel fantasy place."
As research for the script, Heckerling sat in on classes atBeverly Hills High School to get a feel for the student culture,[12] commenting, "...one thing I observed was these girls in a constant state of grooming."[10] Ken Stovitz had become Heckerling's agent at the time and told her the script had the potential to be a feature film after he read it.[11] The finished script, which was titled "No Worries", contained the main characters that would end up in theClueless film.[11]Twink Caplan, Heckerling's friend who had worked with her on past projects, said film executives at Fox were wary of the story being too female-oriented to appeal to a large enough audience. "It was obvious they didn't get it. They thought the script needed more boys in it. They were afraid that if they focused on girls, we wouldn't get any guys to see it. So it went intoturnaround. It was dead", said Caplan.[10]
Six months later, the script found its way to producerScott Rudin, who gave it his stamp of approval.[9][10] Rudin's support led to increased interest in the script, and it became the subject of a bidding war between studios which was eventually won byParamount Pictures.[9] Heckerling was excited, asViacom (Paramount's parent company) owned several major youth-centered television channels, such asMTV andNickelodeon, which were suited to the film's target demographic.[9]
Heckerling first sawAlicia Silverstone in theAerosmith music video for "Cryin'" and kept her in the back of her mind for the role of Cher.[11] When the film was still in development at Fox, executives suggestedAlicia Witt,Keri Russell,Tiffani Thiessen,Gwyneth Paltrow, andAngelina Jolie for the part.[11] Heckerling met withReese Witherspoon, who already had a few film roles to her credit.[11] Though Silverstone only had the thrillerThe Crush as her previous film, the studio did not pressure Heckerling to cast big stars, and Silverstone ultimately won the role of Cher.[12]Ben Affleck andZach Braff auditioned for the role of Josh.[11]Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the role of Amber Mariens but turned it down due to her commitments toAll My Children, whileZooey Deschanel auditioned for the role of Amber as well.[13]Lauryn Hill auditioned for the role of Dionne, which eventually went to Stacey Dash.[14]
Seth Green auditioned for the role of Travis andAlanna Ubach was considered for the role of Tai.[11]Terrence Howard andDave Chappelle were considered for the role of Murray.[11]Jeremy Renner andJamie Walters auditioned for the role of Christian, andJerry Orbach andHarvey Keitel were considered for the role of Cher's father, Melvin Horowitz.[11][15]
The character of Wendell Hall, played byWallace Shawn, was inspired by a real-life debate teacher at Beverly Hills High School and a friend of Heckerling's. Prior to full-time acting, Shawn had been a teacher and drew on his experience for his portrayal of Mr. Hall.[12]
Principal photography for the film began on November 21, 1994,[16] and consisted of a 40-day filming schedule.[17]Brittany Murphy, who was 17 at the time, required a parent or guardian present during filming.[18]
Scenes depicting the fictional Bronson Alcott High School campus including the tennis courts, outdoor cafeteria, and the quad were filmed atOccidental College in Los Angeles.[19] Ulysses S. Grant High School inValley Glen provided filming locations for the school's interior sets.[20] Other notable filming locations include the formerWestside Pavilionshopping mall, Circus Liquor inNorth Hollywood, where Cher is mugged in her designer dress, andRodeo Drive, featured in Cher's "crisis" scene as she dejectedly wanders around after a failed driver's test and a confrontation with Tai.[20]
TheMighty Mighty Bosstones performance, originally an outdoor event, had to be moved inside due to rain.[18]Paul Rudd bought everyone gifts after filming wrapped.[21]
Mona May did the costume designing for the film. The iconic plaid set worn by Cher Horowitz in the film was "a nod to a Catholic schoolgirl uniform, but taken to another level and, turned designer."[22] Cher wore several designer clothes ranging fromAzzedine Alaïa toAnna Sui.[23] The "underwear"Calvin Klein dress worn by Cher was actually designed by Sui who, at the time, was an emerging designer.[23] Calvin Klein was credited due to more brand recognition during the time.
The film was marketed to the youth demographic and the release was promoted onMTV.[24] The film became a surprisesleeper hit of 1995.[25]Clueless opened in 1,653 theaters on July 19, 1995, and grossed $10,612,443 on its opening weekend, which led to a ranking of second at the US box office behindApollo 13.[26] The film grossed $56,631,572 during its theatrical run in the United States and Canada, becoming the 32nd-highest-grossing film of 1995.[27] Internationally, it grossed $31 million for a worldwide total of $88 million.[3] The box office success brought the then-largely unknown Silverstone to international attention and earned her a $10 million, multi-picture deal withColumbia TriStar.[28] The film developed a strongcult following after its release.[6][29]
The film was well received by critics.[30][31] On thereview aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 82% based on reviews from 125 critics, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A funny and clever reshaping ofEmma,Clueless offers a soft satire that pokes as much fun at teen films as it does at the Beverly Hills glitterati."[32] OnMetacritic, the film has a 71 out of 100 rating based on 18 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews.[33] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[34]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars.[35]Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times noted, "Even ifClueless runs out of gas before it's over, most of it is as eye-catching and cheery as its star."[36]Peter Travers ofRolling Stone contrasted the film to a more adult-oriented movie about teenagers released around the same time,Kids, stating, "The materialism inClueless is almost as scary as the hopelessness inKids", but concludedClueless is "wicked good fun to be had [and] Silverstone is a winner."[37]
Clueless won the award forBest Screenplay at theNational Society of Film Critics Awards[38] andAlicia Silverstone won the award forBreakthrough Performance from theNational Board of Review.[39] The film was nominated for aWGA Award for Best Screenplay.[40] The film was nominated for fourMTV Movie Awards, winning for Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Female for Silverstone.[41] Silverstone won the award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture at theAmerican Comedy Awards.[42]
In 2008,Entertainment Weekly selectedClueless as one of the "New Classics", a list of 100 best films released between 1983 and 2008;[43]Clueless was ranked 42nd.[43] That year, the publication also named it the 19th-best comedy of the past 25 years.[44] The film is ranked as number 7 onEntertainment Weekly's list of the 50 best high school films.[45]
The City of Beverly Hills has embraced its association with the film. On July 19, 2025, theCity hosted an outdoor screening for the 30th anniversary of the film's release. The screening was at La Cienega Park in collaboration with Street Food Cinema, and was well attended. At the event, Mayor of Beverly Hills, Sharona Nazarian, officially declared July 19 “Clueless Day.”
Clueless is a loose adaptation ofJane Austen's 1815 novelEmma, and many of its characters have counterparts in the novel.[46][47][48]
Clueless was released onVHS andLaserDisc on December 19, 1995, byParamount Home Video. It ended up in the top 20 for bothvideo rental and video sales for 1996 in the United States.[49] It was released onDVD on October 19, 1999. The special features solely included twotheatrical trailers.
The film was reissued in a special 10th-anniversary "Whatever! Edition" DVD on August 30, 2005.[50] The new issue included featurettes and cast interviews, including:The Class of '95 (a look at the cast),Creative Writing (Amy Heckerling talks about the script),Fashion 101 (how filmmakers invented the trendsetting style ofClueless),Language Arts (the director and cast members give facts on the groundbreaking slang and howClueless revivedValspeak slang),Suck and Blow (how to play the game depicted in theSun Valley party scene),Driver's Ed,We're History (stories from cast and crew ofClueless), and two theatrical trailers.
It was released onBlu-ray on May 1, 2012.[51] Special features from the "Whatever! Edition" of 2005 were carried over to the Blu-ray and included a new trivia track.
The film was remastered in4K for its 30th anniversary and released onUltra HD Blu-ray, digital download and a remastered Blu-ray on July 8, 2025, alongside a theatrical reissue from June 29–30.[52][53]
| Clueless: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | 1995 December 7, 2006 (CD) |
| Recorded | 1994–1995 |
| Length | 51:26 |
| Label | Capitol |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kids in America" (The Muffs) | 3:24 |
| 2. | "Shake Some Action" (Cracker) | 4:25 |
| 3. | "The Ghost in You" (Counting Crows) | 3:30 |
| 4. | "Here (Squirmel Mix)" (Luscious Jackson) | 3:33 |
| 5. | "All the Young Dudes" (World Party) | 4:00 |
| 6. | "Fake Plastic Trees (acoustic version)" (Radiohead) | 4:45 |
| 7. | "Change" (Lightning Seeds) | 4:01 |
| 8. | "Need You Around" (Smoking Popes) | 3:42 |
| 9. | "Mullet Head" (Beastie Boys) | 2:53 |
| 10. | "Where'd You Go?" (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) | 3:16 |
| 11. | "Rollin' with My Homies" (Coolio) | 4:06 |
| 12. | "Alright" (Supergrass) | 3:01 |
| 13. | "My Forgotten Favorite" (Velocity Girl) | 3:49 |
| 14. | "Supermodel" (Jill Sobule) | 3:07 |
| Total length: | 51:26 | |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[54] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
After the death ofBrittany Murphy, Silverstone stated that she "always felt connected to [Murphy] as [they] shared a very special experience in [their] lives together",[55] and said, "I loved working with Brittany. She was so talented, so warm, and so sweet."[55]
Heckerling later described Silverstone as having "thatMarilyn Monroe thing" as a "pretty, sweet blonde who, in spite of being the American ideal, people still really like."[28]
The surviving cast reunited in October 2012 for an issue ofEntertainment Weekly.[56][57]
Heckerling later reunited with both Silverstone and Wallace Shawn for the 2012 vampire comedy filmVamps.[28]
The film was well known for the characters' catchphrases and vocabulary. Cher's verbal style is also marked by ironic contrasts between current slang and historical references, such as when she compares Tai to "thoseBotticelli chicks".[58]
The film also had a strong influence on fashion trends.[59][60] Fashion as a form of self-expression played an important role in the narrative and character development of the film, television series, and novels, which are topics examined by academic Alice Leppert.[61]
Donatella Versace's fall 2018 collection was influenced byClueless.[62]
Clueless was the main inspiration for Australian rapperIggy Azalea's music video for her 2014 song "Fancy" featuringCharli XCX. Many visuals and costumes inspired by the film were used in the video,[63] which is filled with remakes ofClueless scenes. The outfits are also reinvented to channel the famous stylings of the film with a slightly modern edge.[64] "Fancy" was shot in the same Los Angeles high school whereClueless was filmed.[65] A June 2018 episode ofLip Sync Battle featured Silverstone miming to "Fancy", wearing Cher's yellow plaid skirt suit.[66]
A reference to Cher's seduction of Christian is included in the music video forSimone Battle's "He Likes Boys" (2011).[67][68]
In the second episode of the second season of theBBC America thriller seriesKilling Eve, "Nice and Neat" (2019), the Russian assassinVillanelle calls her agency and uses the codename Cher Horowitz to secretly inform her boss she is in trouble and needs to be rescued after being kidnapped.[69]
A 2020Discover Card commercial featured a clip from the film consisting of Cher Horowitz saying her famous phrase "Uh! As if!".[70]
In 2023, Silverstone once again reprised the role of Cher Horowitz in a commercial forRakuten which debuted duringSuper Bowl LVII.[71]
In 1996, the producers created aspin-off television series, which followed parallel storylines of Cher and her friends. Several cast members from the film went on to star in the series, with the notable exceptions ofAlicia Silverstone andPaul Rudd, whose film careers had begun to take off. Silverstone was replaced in the series with actressRachel Blanchard. The series aired onABC from 1996 to 1997, and later onUPN from 1997 to 1999.
In October 2019, it was announced thatCBS would be adapting the film into a drama series. It is said to be centered around Dionne Davenport after Cher goes missing, and is described byDeadline Hollywood as a "baby pink and bisexual blue-tinted, tiny sunglasses-wearing, oat milk latte and Adderall-fueled look at what happens when the high school queen bee Cher disappears and her lifelong number two Dionne steps into Cher's vacant Air Jordans."[72] On August 14, 2020, the series was moved toNBCUniversal's streaming servicePeacock.[73] In May 2021, it was reported that the series would not be moving forward at Peacock and instead would be redeveloping atCBS Studios.[74] In April 2025, it was reported that the drama series is back on track for development for Peacock with Silverstone reprising the role.[75]
Simon Spotlight Entertainment spun off a collection of paperback books from 1995 to 1999 aimed at adolescent readers.[76]
In 2015, to celebrate the film's 20th anniversary, pop culture writer Jen Chaney published a book titledAs If!: The Oral History of Clueless. The book is based on exclusive interviews with Heckerling, Silverstone, and other cast and crew members. Excerpts from the book were published inVanity Fair.[11][77]
Acomic book series was launched in 2017.[78]
Clueless: The Musical opened in New York City on December 11, 2018, as part ofThe New Group's 2018–2019 season. The show was written by Heckerling and starredDove Cameron as Cher and Dave Thomas Brown as Josh. It closed on January 12, 2019.[79][80]
The musical was ajukebox musical featuringpop songs from the 1990s, though with lyrics mostly or entirely rewritten by Heckerling to fit the storyline. Songs adapted from the film's soundtrack included "Supermodel" and "Kids in America".[80]
A new stage adaptation of Clueless opened at theTrafalgar Theatre in London's West End in February 2025.[81] Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, the production features a book by Amy Heckerling, music byKT Tunstall, and lyrics by Glenn Slater.[82] Emma Flynn stars as Cher, alongside Keelan McAuley (Josh), Chyna-Rose Frederick (Dionne), and Romona Lewis-Malley (Tai).
TheClueless CD-ROM is an activity and mini game collection based on the Clueless film and television series released byMattel Media in 1997 forMicrosoft Windows andMacintosh.[83] The CD-ROM is intended for girls age 8 and up, and includes a soundtrack, trivia, makeover and dress-up activities, and six video games.[84]
Paramount announced in 2008 that they would release video games based on their filmsClueless,Mean Girls, andPretty in Pink.[85] The games were planned to be released on both the PC and theNintendo DS, but only the PC games were released.Clueless on PC was released in 2009.[86] The cancelled Nintendo DS video game was found by YouTuber Ray Mona,[87] and a full play-through of the game was released on her channel on April 1, 2021.[88][89]
In 2017,Episode launched an interactive animated web story based on the film.[90]
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