It can argued that Clueless paved the way for other modern day takes on Austen's work such as Bridget Jones' Diary and You've Got Mail(which does nod to Pride & Prejudice while being a remake of Shop Around the Corner) and later web series like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved.
However, even if you're not at all familiar with Austen's novel, this movie works well as a snappy look at upper class teens in love. Since our focus is romantic comedy, let's set our sights on the three main love stories presented here:
In the context of Emma, new student Tai(played by the late Brittany Murphy) is the Harriet Smith , sweetly awkward and in need of some guidance in her rather upscale surroundings.
Cher, with the help of gal pal Dionne(Stacey Dash), is more than ready to take on Tai as a "makeover project" but firmly squashes the instant attraction that her new friend has towards class clown Travis(Breckin Meyer). Granted, Travis is a bit of a stoner(a habit that Tai also shares) but he does admire Tai's talent for drawing, a very Jane Austen trait by the way.
Nonetheless, Cher uses her clout as reigning teen queen to set Tai on what she considers to be the proper path towards high school popularity and social acceptance, which means avoiding the "loadies on the grassy knoll" like him:
Meanwhile, rejecting Elton's advances followed by him dropping her off in a bad neighborhood where she gets robbed leaves Cher with instant regrets over the whole deal.
That sequence of events takes me to one of my favorite parts of the movie, where Cher calls her former stepbrother Josh(the evergreen Paul Rudd) to give her a lift home. Josh arrives with current college girlfriend Heather in tow, who is giving a very Mrs. Elton style teardown of one of their professors(she's not really the Mrs. Elton of the story-that dubious honor belongs to snippy classmate Amber but I digress).
At one point, Heather misquotes Shakespeare and Cher is able to offer a correction, due to her recall of the latest Hamlet remake-"he didn't say that, that Polonius guy did!". That quick exchange gets a laugh out of Josh, which earns him a glare from the girlfriend and shows that he's aware that Cher is more than a smart dresser:
Ultimately, Tai and Travis do hook up and Cher, who has chosen by now to give herself a "makeover-only this time, I'll make over my soul", gives her approval. Mind you, that approval is not needed or asked for at this point but Cher has become more accepting of others. It does help that Travis is on a twelve step program and turning into a more focused person, not to mention that Tai still likes him very much indeed:
While Cher's initial motive to pair these two teachers up romantically is based on the need to renegotiate her midterm grades, she and Dionne do see the sweetness in both Mr. Hall(the delightful Wallace Shawn) and Miss Geist(Twink Caplan) as these "old people" begin to fall in love.
This small side story is the Miss Taylor/Mr. Weston romance that in Emma has been completed by marriage in the beginning and in Clueless, ends the film. However, in both situations, these two had feelings for each other in the first place, despite all of the youthful intervention, that made them become a wedded couple:
Yes, this is the big romance and before we get any further here, I know that there's been some recent debate over how truly appropriate this relationship is.
Well, for one-the age gap between them is not as distant as it was between their literary counterparts Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley(who remembers holding her as a baby in the book!) .
Also, they are ex-stepsiblings who clearly didn't grow up together in Brady Bunch style and no doubt, Josh would wait until Cher was of college age before their relationship went into a major adult direction. As Cher says herself early on in the movie-"You've seen how picky I am about my shoes and they only go on my feet!"
With that out of the way, this love story is a slow moving affair as Cher suddenly realizes that she loves Josh(complete with light up fountain action in the background) but not sure how to pursue this. Her ill fated romance with Christian(who Josh was briefly jealous of until he saw his alleged rival's true inclinations in that department) didn't end badly but still, she wasn't sure of how to proceed when it came to someone who knows her so well.
Fortunately, a moment occurred when Cher thought she had made a mistake in her lawyer father's case file(she didn't and that guy was a jerk for blaming her there) and Josh not only backed her up but reveled his deeper feelings for her. It's a sweet scene that holds up, even after twenty five years and here's to another twenty score and more for this charming take on a timeless classic:
It was fun to see Clueless again and with the 25th anniversary attention given to this movie(plus talk of a remake, which I consider to be pointless), I'm sure plenty of old fans and new are enjoying this flashback to the past indeed.
Our next movie meal will take place at Notting Hill, where movie star Julia Roberts and humble travel bookstore clerk Hugh Grant find themselves in love amid massive media attention and his wacky roommate Spike.
This is such a lovely film, with great supporting characters and bittersweet moments galore(and yes, a Jane Austen connection!). Also, it has a meet-cute that involves shoplifting which isn't the most likely form of love connection but there you go:
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