Comedy

Slow Ride…take it easy…ah yes. Foghat. Dazed and Confused is Richard Linklater’s love letter to teenage nostalgia. And it shows up on DVD in a “flashback edition”. The film is also a love letter to the 70’s and contains a bitchin’ soundtrack. In the same vein, Dazed is like Fast Times and Ridgemont High, American Graffiti, and Almost Famous. Linklater’s approach is different. Like his previous film Slacker, Linklater is interested in the composite effect. There’s no ON... character to follow (maybe Mitch). It’s a collective work where the pieces add up to a whole. And it’s a wonderful whole.

The structure of the film is loose, and we follow the events of one day and night “in the life” of various characters. The end of school party climaxes the film. Some soon to be movie stars pop up too. Ben Affleck plays the paddle wielding baddie O’Bannion, Matthew McConaughey plays Wooderson (with his famous speech about high school girls), and Parker Posey shows her genuine talents as the “air raid” obsessed Darla Marks. But the other actors in film are just as authentic in their roles. Not a false note is heard throughout the movie.