The Second Time Around is Better Than the First

A few years ago, I bought a copy of Dazed and Confused because it was offered through a movie club I belonged to. I sat down, popped it in, and was terribly disappointed.

Fast forward 4 years into present day, Year 2000. My friends and I decide to give the movie a second chance. We rent it, go home, pop it into the VCR, and from beginning to end, laugh ourselves blue in the face.

You may be sitting there wondering why I would have even bothered, after trying to watch this movie once before, to watch it again. The answer is simple: I have found that when one grows older, they begin to appreciate things more. Maybe it's the fact that I have grown not only older, but also wiser. I have seen many things during this journey called life. Therefore, what I may as seen as "dull" or even "dumb" when I was a mere 24 year old, at 28, I see as absolutely hilarious.

Dazed and Confused takes place on the last day of school in 1976. No one really seems to care about their classes (who did on the last day of school?): the seniors are getting ready to graduate and step off into the real world or go off to college; the entering freshmen are preparing themselves for the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.

Yes, I have to admit, I was able to relate to much of this movie. I didn't witness the freshman "hazing" rituals like they are portrayed in the movie, yet I do recall the local hangouts and the endless nights of just cruising the main drag. My friends and I laughed as we shared our memories of our days in high school.

In the movie, we are introduced to the typical high school cliques: the jocks, the stoners, the geeks. Of course, everyone in high school wants to be cool, and people will take drastic measures to fit in. The girls who are "pre-frosh," and who want to be a part of the "in" crowd are degraded by the senior girls by having pacifiers shoved in their mouths and eggs, honey, flour, sugar (you name it!) dumped on them as they lay in the middle of the high school parking lot. The "pre-frosh" boys are chased down the street by the senior guys who threaten to hurt the boys severely (this form of hazing reminded me too much of fraternity hazing!), so much so, that some would not be able to sit down for the entirety of the summer. The geeks decide they have been spending their free time being geeks, and decide to finally go to the end of the year party.

I was quite surprised to see the star lineup in this movie: Ben Affleck (check out the hair!!) as the high school football star; Parker Posey as one of the senior girls you love to hate; Joey Lauren Adams; and Jason London to name but a few. By and large, this movie is a great movie that will take you back to your high school days-to laugh and reminisce of the bygone days of youth.