Popular high school girl Cher narrates her life as a cool kid. She talks about her dad, who’s so tough that even the housekeeper fears him, her impressive driving skills without a license, and her best friend, Dionne.

Other details include how she was only a baby when her mom died from a liposuction error, and how she has a stepbrother from her dad’s ex-wife, who’s staying with them during his college break.

Everything in her life is going well… until she gets a C in debate class on her report card. But she is able to hide that from her father.

Cher has successfully convinced teachers to change her grades before. But not with her debate teacher, Mr. Hall. He is a hard grader. Dionne tells Cher that he is miserable and tries to ruin other people’s lives because of that. Cher decides to perform good deeds that could make Mr. Hall happy, hoping that he can raise her grade. One thing she does is try to have another, Miss Geist, fall in love with Mr. Hall.

Later, a new student joins the school. Her name is Tai Frasier. Cher and Dionne try to get her into becoming cool.

The first thing they do is give her a makeover. Then they introduce her to the other popular kids at school. One of them is Elton Tiscia. However, he loves Cher instead. But Cher isn’t interested in a relationship with him.

There are aspects that I enjoyed about this movie. One is how the main character is a popular girl. That is less common than a protagonist who’s just ordinary and gets picked on by popular kids.

Another detail that impressed me was how someone said that Alicia Silverstone nailed playing a 15-year-old in her late 20s. But she was actually in her late teens since she was born in 1976.

According to Wikipedia, writer and director, Amy Heckerling, observed a high school and studied how the students acted, including the slang terms they used.

Almost all the actors were in their 20s (which is common for playing teenagers), except Brittany Murphy, who was 17 when she played Tai Frasier. But the way Alicia Silverstone talked like a cool high school girl impressed me.

I also admired the pop culture icons that were big at that time, such as when Cher watched Beavis and Butthead. And the pacing was neither too slow or too fast.

That being said, this movie was a bit hard to follow at times, probably because the plot was complex with a lot happening. It also only engaged me for about the first half.

Other flaws include how characters reacted too casually to serious situations, such as when a boy tried to jump out the window after receiving an unsatisfactory report card and Mr. Hall just calmly stopped him. He would have called the suicide hotline and possibly an ambulance. However, that scene was very minor.

Overall, I ended up finding Clueless just okay. But anyone 13 or over (the movie is rated PG-13 for language and drinking) may still enjoy it, especially because of its unique concept.

I give the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.