Clueless MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 Content: -2

CLUELESS is today's version of the popular 1991 FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. This time the high school is in affluent Beverly Hills, and Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is the girl to know. She is rich, beautiful, popular and a real "shop-till-you-drop" kind of gal. Her father has taught Cher to talk her way out of anything, including bad grades. When she gets a "C" in debate, she decides to help her lonely debate teacher find love. Through Cher's manipulations, he falls in love with her English teacher and ultimately Cher's "C" becomes an "A." Then Josh (Paul Rudd), the son of Cher's dad's ex-wife, comes to visit. He tells Cher she is self-centered and clueless about life. This prompts Cher and her best friend, Dionne (Stacey Dash), to help Tai (Brittany Murphy), a new girl at school. They teach her how the elite Beverly Hills crowd deals with boys, drugs, sex and popularity. CLUELESS is basically an honest look at problems teens face. Teenage audiences will no doubt relate to the movie and appreciate its hilarious situations.

Cher is sure to be looked to as a role model by teenage girls. And though she is shallow in many ways, her desire to develop some depth to her character by helping Tai is admirable. However, the messages teens will get from CLUELESS are both confusing and disturbing. In one scene Cher smokes marijuana at a party and tells Tai it's acceptable to smoke it at parties, but not every day. Yet in another scene she praises Travis (Breckin Meyer) for joining a 12-step program for drug addiction. Another conflicting message is Cher's pride in being a virgin, but she thinks of giving herself to a classmate she has a crush on, who turns out to be a homosexual. Neither upset nor concerned, she decides to shop with him instead of sleeping with him. Quite a bit of sexually suggestive dialogue in the film includes one fairly explicit discussion of sex and satisfying men. The constant use of obscenities and profanities earn a PG-13 rating for CLUELESS. These elements, along with the disturbing messages that there are no distinguishable rights and wrongs, prevent a positive acceptability rating.

Preview Reviewer: Sherry Oswald
Distributor: Paramount Communications, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, NY, NY 10023-7780