Party at the Moontower

Dazed and Confused is widely regarded as one of the classic stoner films, but that description sells short the wistfully earnest heart of Richard Linklater's 1993 film about the travails of high school juniors on the last day of school as they experience their first bout of "senioritis." Dazed and...

By Jay Webb

July 27, 2006

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Dazed and Confused is widely regarded as one of the classic stoner films, but that description sells short the wistfully earnest heart of Richard Linklater's 1993 film about the travails of high school juniors on the last day of school as they experience their first bout of "senioritis." Dazed and Confused revels in the Spirit of '76—1976, that is—as the history teacher warns her class, "This summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic white males didn't want to pay their taxes." The cynicism carries over to the students as they contemplate their lives and ponder the meaning of it all, but it never gets so weighty that it spoils the film's overall optimism. Try watching it without the bloodshot eyes. The pot jokes will still be funny. And you might even be able to spot one of those mythological Renée Zellweger cameos. Dazed and Confused screens Friday and Saturday at midnight at the Inwood Theatre, 5458 W. Lovers Lane. Admission is $8. Call 214-764-9106 or visit landmarktheatres.com.
Fri., July 28; Sat., July 29

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