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A waste of 90 minutes of my life

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I finally got around to seeing Heathers after all of these years. It is kind of funny seeing the parallels between Chrstian Slater's J.D. and his character on Mr. Robot.The good: It very much captures the teenage angst of the late 80's in pre-Internet world. Slater and Ryder do excellent jobs with their characters. There are many quotable lines and funny moments. This is a very dark comedy and you can tell that tongues or often planted firmly in cheek.The bad: This movie could never be made today with the epidemic of school schootings and teen suicides etc. Slater's character was very prescient in forseeings what would be coming a decade later. One can even argue that poplularization of a film like this spread the message of the anguished, outsider teen who gets glory by attacking a school and killing people. but obviously the filmmakers cannot be held responsible for what happens later.The other thing that bothers me about the film is that it often falls into as many cliches as it avoids. 80's teen films were very homophobic. Here we see the typical set-up: Football players call the protagonist/villain a f*g, he then reciprocates in framing this elaborate scheme in which the boys die allegedly as gay lovers. It is often not clear where the satire ends and genuine homophobia so prevalent in the 1980's comes into play. Yes, it is clearly a joke that the fact they have mineral water, a Joan Crawford postcard etc., which they just carry around, is a sure sign they are gay. It is less clear that the way their day is presented is supposed to be a joke - the town seems to all ridicule the dead boys for being gay and share a common disgust and the audience gets the impression that the gay frame-up is the just reward for having called Slater a f*g in the beginning.Moreover, the film really ends on a bit of a cliched note. Ryder has participated in several murders but just walks away from the attempted mass-murder of the school like nothing happened. This time, she will be nice to the overweight student with zero social life - who was really just a prop for ridicule in this world, so that makes it all ok. Again, this is a black comedy and parody but, again, it is not always clear what cliches of the teen genre they are avoiding and which ones, some greatly unacceptable by today's standards, they fall right into.

At first, I was worrying that this film would be another cliche teen high school movie. But as the film progresses, I liked how the dark humor and violence was employed to build up the tension in the plotline. In addition, Winona Ryder looked gorgeous as Veronica Sawyer. My only takeaway for this film is the title. In my opinion, I don't really see why this film would be named "Heathers" when a majority of the story focuses on Veronica and her relationship with JD.

So it really is actually funny. Its completely caricatured representation of particular profiles, how it escalates blatantly fast and how complacently it gets out of hand... it's really funny stuff for an hour. Ryder, constantly criticized for her 'terrible acting', does very well here. Slater is good too as the totally icy sociopath.The film actually does well in giving body to its characters, we get to see why they are a particular way, they're not just randomly insane. But past that hour mark, it becomes too self-indulgent and when the laughs no longer happen we're left with an ending a bit too cute.The social commentary on the late 80's teenager condition can be appreciated, but this film seems to not pick a side: if you're giving the public an outrageous, very dark humored comedy for the whole two thirds of a film, you can't just stick that with a pseudo-deep final act in the end, especially when it's only half-convincing at all.

Heathers is directed by Michael Lehmann, and stars Winona Ryder as Veronica and Christian Slater as J.D. They're two school pupils that begin dating. Veronica is part of an elitist clique of friends and in order to break free, her and J.D joke about conjuring up the murder of the leader of the group. Only for J.D to go ahead and actually do It. After Veronica's initial shock they decide to make it look like a suicide. Only to go down a slippery slope of bumping more students off, as they try and restore a social equilibrium that goes to the extreme. The best way too describe this film would be, John Hughes with an added flavour of murder.Christian Slater steals the show every time he's in the frame, as the always alluring and unhinged rouge. Winona Ryder plays well of him, and they both great on screen chemistry together. Their relationship feels very real during all phases of the film.Heathers is a sharply written cynical satire on eighties high school sociology. Whilst also being a metaphor about the development from adolescence to adulthood, and that there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two. The films themes are also well thought out, it's a teen comedy that carries Important messages. The only downside I had with the film, was it did feel at times a bit too cynical and heavy handed for it's own good. This approach at times left me feeling cold and uncaring towards certain character resolutions.Overall Heathers is one of the best teen comedies to have come out of the eighties. Despite the craziness and ludicrous plot developments the film takes in the third act. It still remains a fascinating critique of the misanthropic structure of adolescent behaviour and high school sociology.