Dazed and Confused

Dazed and Confused (Criterion #336). 1993 Universal Pictures & Gramercy Pictures.
Starring: Jason London, Rory Cochrane, Wiley Wiggins, Sasha Jenson, Michelle Burke, Adam Goldberg, Matthew McConaughey, Marissa Ribisi
Also starring: Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Renee Zellweger
Director: Richard Linklater
Buy Dazed and Confused (Criterion Collection) at Amazon.

The Last Day of School: May 28, 1976. 1:05 PM. Lee High School in Texas...

The class of 1977 are preparing for the annual hazing of incoming freshmen. Meanwhile, Randall "Pink" Floyd (London) is asked to sign a pledge promising to abstain from drugs, alcohol, or anything that would "jeopardize the goal of a championship season". When school lets out, the eighth grade boys are paddles, and the girls are covered in condiments and forced to propose to senior boys. Mitch Kramer (Wiggins) manages to escape the hazing with best friend Carl Burnett (Esteban Powell), but is caught at a baseball game, where he gets a particularly violent paddling from Fred O'Bannion (Affleck). Earlier, Carl's mom saved his ass by pulling a shotgun on Fred.

Plans for the upcoming seniors are ruined when a long anticipated keg party is cancelled at the last minute, which doesn't stop the nerd herd of Cynthia Dunn (Ribisi), Tony Olson (Anthony Rapp) and Mike Newhouse (Goldberg) from going out and "viscerally" participating in the evening's parties. Meanwhile, Pink picks up his 22-year-old friend who still socializes with high schoolers, David Wooderson (McConaughey), as well as Jodi Kramer (Burke), and they head for the popular pool hall the Emporium. The evening sees a lot of kids hanging out, listening to rock, cruising, and getting burgers at the drive-in. Pink takes Mitch in, lets him drink and smoke pot for the first time, and they go out playing some mailbox baseball. When Mitch meets his freshman buddies back at the Emporium, they work out a plan to get even with O'Bannion by plotting to dump paint on him.

An impromptu keg party is thrown in a vacant field outside the city limits, attracting almost all of the seniors. Cynthia, Tony, and Mike also show up, and Mike gets into a fight with Clint Bruno (Nicky Katt), but it's broken up by Pink and Wooderson. Tony meets and hangs out with freshman Sabrina Davis, who he met earlier during the hazing. Pink is later confronted for not having signed the sobriety pledge, but he thinks it violates his individuality and beliefs. Mitch meets and hooks up with Julie Simms (Catherine Morris), leaving the party to go make out somewhere.

At daybreak, Pink and his buddies move the party to the 50 yard line of the football field, where they all smoke marijuana. The police show up, and after recognizing Pink, they call the football coach (Terry Mross), who lectures him about hanging out with "losers", and demanding that he sign the pledge. Pink refuses, throwing the paper into the coach's face, saying he's going to play football on his own terms. He then leaves with his friends to go buy Aerosmith tickets. Meanwhile, Mitch comes home after sunrise, and his mom has waited up the whole night for him. She decides not to punish her boy, remembering the previous day's hazing incident. Mitch goes upstairs, puts on headphones, and listens to rock music.

Tonight is actually the first time I've ever seen Dazed and Confused. Yes, I know. I personally couldn't relate to it, since I never did take part in the hijinks that the kids in the movie, and by theory, the kids I went to high school with did, but it's still a fun movie.

Highly, highly (no pun intended) recommended, and yes, it belongs in the Criterion Collection, alongside films by Bergman, Kurosawa, and Fellini. Just don't ask why they released Chasing Amy, though!