Dazed and Confused (1993) *

Directed by:  Richard Linklater

Starring:  Jason London, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich

I first saw Dazed and Confused in 1993 and got little out of it.    I remember complaining that there should've been a plot so I didn't have to watch a bunch of stoned teenagers ramble on.    Friends and acquaintances told me that Dazed and Confused was a funny, interesting movie and perhaps I should give it another try.    I did and there should've been a plot.   

Dazed and Confused takes place in a small Texas town on the last day of school in 1976.   Freshman students are tormented and humiliated by seniors in some sort of traditional hazing ritual.    I remember once walking home on the last day of school (maybe it was 6th or 7th grade).    I was approached by someone who wanted to spray me with shaving cream.    I warned him I would punch him if he did it and went on my way.    That's what some of these kids should've done to their tormentors.    Maybe some tried and got punished worse.     It's possible.   

After an afternoon of elaborate pranks and hazing, the students all gather together for a big bash in a local wooded area.    They smoke lots of weed and babble on about their futures and what not.    Dazed and Confused has achieved cult status with weed smokers I'm sure, since there is more smoking in this film than in most Cheech & Chong movies.    And at least Cheech & Chong films had plots, flimsy as they might've been.  

If the people in Dazed and Confused were even marginally interesting, a plot wouldn't be necessary.    Maybe even that wouldn't have worked.     I found the people to be unremarkable at best and annoying at worst.    The dialogue didn't contain any stretches of quotable lines or memorable scenes.    Just like in 1993, most of what happened in Dazed and Confused evaporated from my memory right after it was over.     20 years later, I still got nothing out of it.    I won't be watching it again 20 years from now I assure you.