Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 18, 1993 TAG: 9312180164
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not that it isn't very funny and weird and occasionally dimly thought-provoking - like the '70s. But it's so relentlessly realistic, so terribly accurate, that it may actually be more entertaining to those lucky enough to have missed the whole scene by a few years.
It's all here, from the very first note of the soundtrack, "Sweet Emotion," by Aerosmith. There's the leisure-suited Dad, the puka shells, bell-bottoms, '60s-leftover high school teachers, blacklights, lip gloss (and we're talking high-gloss here, the wet look), and bong-making shop class students. Not to mention the marijuana; it is abundant.
Linklater, whose 1990 cult hit "Slacker" tracked a day in the life of the no-lifers in and around Austin, Texas, picks the last day of school - May 28, 1976 - at Lee High (home of the Fighting Rebels) as the starting point for "Dazed."
The bare plot line is driven by a bizarre hazing ritual that has next year's seniors chasing next year's freshmen around with paddles. All must be paddled; girls suffer a less physically painful form of humiliation.
Randall "Pink" Floyd (Jason London) is more or less the center of the story. His big challenge is to decide whether or not to play football next year; to do so, he must sign a form swearing off drugs, alcohol and other unsavory activities. ("Next thing you know, they'll be giving urine tests," a friend predicts morosely.)
Then there is the inevitable search for something to do. The party has been called off, but the will to find something, anything, to do is strong. Good thing gas is only 60 cents a gallon, because before anything can happen, everyone has to do a requisite amount of driving around, getting stoned, and listening to Peter Frampton.
As in "Slacker," what preoccupies Linklater's characters is the vague sense that they ought to be doing something, that life ought to be adding up to something more.
"It's all preparation. But what are we preparing ourselves for?" one partyer asks another as they cruise around town.
"Death," a friend responds from the back seat.
All this cruising around is more than a little reminiscent of "American Graffiti," but in a marijuana haze. And with Foghat instead of Bill Haley blasting at the drive-in.
Ultimately, Dr. John sums it up best when he sings, "I was in the right place . . . but it must have been the wrong time." They weren't the good old days, so Linklater deserves a lot of credit for pointing his camera at the '70s, getting it right and making it fun.
\ DAZED AND CONFUSED:***
A Gramercy Pictures release showing at the Grandin Theatre. 94 minutes. Rated R for lots of crude teen talk and nearly incessant substance abuse.
by CNB