Clueless 25th Anniversary Steelbook Blu-ray Review

As If

Having already made a great teen movie for the 1980s in Fast Times At Ridgemont High, director Amy Heckerling struck comedy gold once again in the 1990s with Clueless. Perfectly capturing the cultural zeitgeist of its era with brilliant quips and sharply written characters, the fun teen comedy struck a chord with fans.

Possibly the quintessential high school movie of its decade, Clueless turned Alicia Silverstone into a household name with a juggernaut comedic performance still fondly remembered twenty-five years later. The defining role of Silverstone’s movie career, it’s a charming performance beyond her age.

The delightful satire of life at a California high school is carried by Silverstone’s magnificently rendered Cher, a vapid teenager at the top of her high school’s social pyramid. Best friends with Dionne (Stacey Dash), the entitled rich girls decide to use their popularity for “good” by taking new girl Tai (Brittany Murphy) under their wing and making her popular. Mostly that means playing matchmaker for Tai by hooking her up with one of the school’s most eligible boys, played by a young Jeremy Sisto.

Clueless turned Alicia Silverstone into a household name with a juggernaut comedic performance

Cher’s world revolves around shopping, socializing, and boys. Refusing to date high school boys herself, she is clueless about love. Cher’s world becomes confusing to her when the wealthy teen realizes she might have a thing for her “ex-stepbrother” Josh (Paul Rudd), an older college student into more serious things than her high school friends.

Heckerling’s script is perfectly witty and succinct, filled with hilarious one-liners and dead-pan lines delivered perfectly by Silverstone and Dash. One of the smoothest comedy screenplays hailing from the 1990s, Clueless delivers a deliciously ironic parody of teenage life at Beverly Hills High School without going overboard. The PG-13 charmer is told from a female perspective but it’s enjoyable for all audiences.

Cher may be a walking caricature in the first act but Clueless slowly humanizes the confused teenager, allowing audiences to embrace her without remorse. Clueless offers clever insights into its teen characters while remaining fresh and funny. Less mean-spirited than most high school comedies, Heckerling’s pitch-perfect direction pokes fun at vacuous, entitled teenagers.

Video

First released in 2012, Paramount reuses the same transfer and encode that received generally favorable reviews upon release. Matt’s comments from his 2012 Clueless Blu-ray review still hold up in light of newer tech like 4K film scans and better grain management tools.

Film elements for the 1995 production are in superb condition. Nicely saturated with the proper amount of warmth for flesh-tones, the well-done color correction hints that Clueless deserves a fresh film transfer for UHD. Let’s hope Paramount gives Clueless a new transfer for its 30^th anniversary.

Colors are perky, black levels are effectively inky, and the contrast remains steadfast throughout the 97-minute main feature. Paramount gifts Clueless with a stellar AVC encode that transparently renders grain structure without introducing issues. Some processing is evident if you know what to look for but never really impacts the overall picture quality beyond a few shots.

Audio

Like many comedies, the effective 5.1 DTS-HD MA surround audio is mostly directed towards the front channels. Nice stereo separation across the front with clean, intelligible dialogue emphasizes the circa 1995 music soundtrack littered with pop hits from that era. Mastered with moderate dynamics, lively music and immaculately recorded, Clueless sounds surprisingly decent.

Rear channels get some action, especially in the more actively discrete party scenes. One moment with a helicopter is impressive. It’s a solid mix without any real deficiencies and sufficient LFE. Going back to the DVD era, the audio holds up with newer mixes.

Optional English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles are featured in a white font. French, Spanish and Portuguese dubs are offered in 2.0 Dolby Digital.

Extras

Paramount reissues the same disc from their 2012 Blu-ray release for this 25^th Anniversary edition. Arriving in a (very) yellow and shiny Steelbook, the one new addition from the original release is the presence of a digital copy. The inside art is a collage of still pictures from Clueless.

The included digital copy redeems on either iTunes, VUDU or FandangoNOW in HDX quality. The Blu-ray is coded for all regions.

The following featurettes have been brought over from Paramount’s original “Whatever” DVD edition, meaning they are mildly dated in content. Curiously absent is a commentary from Amy Heckerling or Alicia Silverstone, which Clueless deserves.

Clueless Teaser (01:59 in HD)

Clueless Theatrical Trailer (02:39 in HD)

Clue or False Trivia Game (HD) – Use your remote to answer trivia questions about the world of Clueless.

The Class of ’95 featurette (18:31 in SD) – A look at the cast, then and now.

Creative Writing featurette (09:39 in SD) – Writer/Director Amy Heckerling discusses writing Clueless.

Fashion 101 featurette (10:46 in SD)

Language Arts featurette (08:09 in SD)

Suck ‘N’ Blow: The Tutorial (02:47 in SD) – A guide on how to play with Alicia Silverstone and Jeremy Sisto.

Driver’s Ed featurette (03:49 in SD) – The highway driving scene’s shooting problems are covered.

We’re History featurette (08:52 in SD) – Various cast members look back on the film’s legacy and Amy Heckerling’s career.

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.

For screenshots, considering this is the same disc, reference DoBlu’s review from Clueless’ 2012 Blu-ray release.