With 1995’s Clueless, we get a smarter than usual look at high school life. The movie follows the adventures of teen trendmaker Cher (Alicia Silverstone), the daughter of a well-to-do southern California lawyer (Dan Hedaya). She lives a cushy life along with similarly spoiled pal Dionne (Stacey Dash).

When her stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) comes to town, the pair bicker due to their rather different outlooks on life. College boy Josh maintains a more serious, altruistic view toward the world and challenges self-absorbed Cher to do the same. She initially resists his jibes but eventually they get to her and she decides to do something about it.

After Cher manages to play matchmaker, she gets a high from her good deed. To maintain this feeling, she decides to help a “clueless” new student named Tai (Brittany Murphy).

A fashion disaster, Cher works to remake Tai in her own image. The movie follows these efforts and their results as well as Cher’s romantic efforts.

25 years after its release, I expected Clueless to suffer from a lot of dated elements. Indeed, its era occasionally rears its ugly head through its dated music and pop culture references. However, these create surprisingly few distractions, at least for those of us who still remember the 90s well.

And that’s probably most of the audience for Clueless, as I have no idea if it’ll be a timeless piece of teen entertainment. I do think it’ll hold up well for younger kids, though, since I don’t see a lot of dated elements. The film embodies a certain universal feel about high school that resonates if you graduated in 2005, 1995, or 1985 like some old fart writing this review.

Much of the credit goes to writer/director Amy Heckerling. Via 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, she made one of the 80s best remembered teen flicks, and she manages to do just as well here.

Heckerling keeps a tight rein on the flick and doesn’t bog it down in unnecessary moments. She juggles a lot of balls as we follow Cher’s path and makes sure that the story advances as we enjoy the gags.

Perhaps Heckerling’s biggest achievement comes from the heart exhibited by Clueless. For its first act, it functions mainly as a parody of spoiled teens. Cher certainly comes across as a potentially unlikable brat, and only the fact that we see her as a caricature redeems her.

However – wonder of wonders – Heckerling actually manages to turn the tale in such a way that it develops into something natural and even believable. Cher and her pals go from superficial, one-dimensional snobs to pretty likable and three-dimensional personalities. This is a very neat trick, since I didn’t think such a feat could be accomplished via these cartoony characters.

Of course, some of the credit goes to the actors, with a big nod in the direction of Silverstone. She maintains a light charm as Cher that makes it not hate her even at her brattiest.

We easily could become so annoyed at Cher in the first act that the rest of the film could never redeem her, but Silverstone’s easy innocence makes sure that we like her in spite of her excesses.

Again, it helps that Heckerling frontloads those excesses into the movie’s first act. That’s the part that most aggressively acts to spoof the lifestyles of the rich and spoiled.

We still get some of those elements in the rest of the movie – Christian’s faux Rat Pack hipster in act two stands out in that regard – but the story and character aspects dominate the movie’s final hour. We focus less on cartooniness and more on heart.

And that remains the word I most attach to Clueless, though I also think of it as bright, funny and endearing. Though the film easily could have degenerated into a simple and mean-spirited attack on conspicuous consumerism, it decided to go down a more memorable path. Clueless ends up as a rare teen flick that also appeals to the oldsters in the audience.

Clueless appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. A lot of the film looked good, but some problems cropped up along the way.

Sharpness usually came across well. Softness crept into a few shots, but those remained fairly minor, so the majority of the flick looked pretty good.

No shimmering or jaggies showed up, but some edge haloes became apparent. As for source flaws, I noticed occasional examples of specks and marks, but these weren’t too prominent.

Colors worked well. Though a little “90s blandness” occurred, the hues usually came across as pretty peppy and full.

Black levels appeared deep and rich, while shadow detail was fine. While I liked a lot of the image, the handful of soft spots, edge haloes and source flaws turned this into an erratic presentation.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Clueless, it seemed fine but it didn’t excel because of a lack of ambition. Like most comedies, the movie featured a limited soundfield that strongly favored the forward channels. It showed very nice stereo spread to the music as well as some general ambience from the sides.

Panning was decent, and the surrounds usually kicked in basic reinforcement. A few scenes opened up better, though, especially in the parties.

Heck, a couple of sequences even offered some pretty solid split surround material, such as when a helicopter floated around one outdoor sequence. These were the exceptions to the rule, however, as most of the movie stayed with limited imaging.

Audio quality appeared good. Speech was natural and distinct, with no issues related to edginess or intelligibility. Effects sounded clean and accurate, with good fidelity and no signs of distortion.

Music was perfectly fine, as the score and songs showed decent dimensionality. This track was good enough for a “B-“ but didn’t particularly impress.

How did this “25th Anniversary” Blu-ray from 2020 compare to the DVD from 2005? The lossless audio felt a bit more dynamic, while the image came across as better defined and offered stronger colors. I suspect the Blu-ray just reused the DVD’s transfer, but the format allowed it to fare better.

How did the 2020 Blu-ray compare to the original Blu-ray from 2012? I never saw that one – and I don’t need to view it to know that the 2020 disc simply reissues it. This is literally the same release – it even still says “2012” on the Blu-ray’s face!

When we head to extras, The Class of ‘95 goes for 18 minutes, 31 seconds. We hear from writer/director Amy Heckerling, associate producer Twink Caplan, casting director Marcia Ross, director of photography Bill Pope, and actors Breckin Meyer, Alicia Silverstone (in 1995), Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash, Donald Faison, Paul Rudd, Dan Hedaya, Justin Walker and Wallace Shawn.

“Class” looks at casting, characters and performances. We get a very nice overview of the different personalities and learn a lot of fun notes in this useful little piece.

For the nine-minute, 39-second Creative Writing, we find remarks from Heckerling, Caplan, and Pope. We learn about the flick’s development and story ideas, the film’s take on Beverly Hills and high school, various influences, issues getting a studio to back the flick, visual design, and a few other production elements.

“Writing” becomes a bit scattered, as its focus flits around in different ways. Nonetheless, it includes more interesting information and keeps us occupied.

Fashion 101 goes for 10 minutes, 46 seconds and includes Faison, Caplan, Heckerling, Dash, Murphy, Meyer, Walker, makeup artist Alan Friedman, actor Elisa Donovan and costume designer Mona May.

As implied by the title, “Fashion” looks at the movie’s clothes. We learn how the outfits were adapted for the different outfits and get info about what May hoped to achieve with her designs. It’s another fun and fact-packed show.

During the eight-minute, nine-second Language Arts, we get comments from Silverstone (1995), Heckerling, Faison, Murphy, Caplan, Walker, Meyer, Donovan, and Dash. The featurette looks at the movie’s slang.

We find a good overview of how the flick’s distinctive dialogue emerged and also get a glossary of what some of the terms mean. It’s an entertaining segment.

For Suck ‘N Blow – A Tutorial, we get a two-minute, 47-second piece. It takes us to the set for the “suck ‘n blow” scene and we see aspects of its creation. A few decent snippets appear, but it’s fluffier and less substantial than the other programs.

Driver’s Ed lasts three minutes, 49 seconds and features Faison, Heckerling, Pope, and Dash. We see the filming of the clip where Dionne ends up on the freeway. Some raw footage adds to the piece, and we find some good details about this sequence.

Finally, We’re History fills eight minutes, 52 seconds with notes from Heckerling, Pope, Shawn, Faison, Caplan, Donovan, Walker, Meyer, Murphy, Hedaya, and Dash. We hear about working with Heckerling as well as reactions to the film and its reception. A few decent notes pop up here, but it feels a little more self-congratulatory than I’d like.

Inside the Trailers area, we find the flick’s teaser and theatrical promos.

We finish with a Blu-ray exclusive: Clue or False Trivia Game. It runs alongside the film and quizzes the viewer on aspects of the film.

That makes this a little more fun than the usual text commentary. We learn a bit about the movie during this moderately enjoyable bonus.

Back in 1995, Clueless offered a surprisingly taut and funny little teen comedy. 25 years later, the movie’s aged quite well, largely thanks to crisp writing and nice performances. The Blu-ray offers erratic visuals along with acceptable audio and a decent set of supplements. While I like the film, this Blu-ray shows its age, so it’s a shame Paramount didn’t use the flick’s 25th anniversary as a chance to upgrade the dated 2012 release.

To rate this film visit the original review of CLUELESS