Remember the Daze

Remember the Daze reminded me a lot of Degrassi: The Next Generation, only with more emphasis on getting stoned. It probably isn't an accurate portrayal of most high school experiences in 1999, and certainly not of my high school when I graduated in 2005, but it walks the line between being realistic and unbelievable well enough to make it quite interesting to watch. It's also easier to take seriously because it takes on more of an indie film feel than a stoner flick. The cast members all showed great promise in their future acting careers and while they chose a few people who've been in big films before (Alexa Vega, Khleo Thomas), it was equally refreshing to see new faces and talent. The dynamic of the cast was superb, despite how many people were involved. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, it was much better than I expected it to be based on its description.

So there was this woman who went to film school and saw "Dazed and Confused" and decided that she could make a movie just like it. And she tried. And she failed. But you can learn something about what makes a real film if you watch them one right after another. Oh wait IMDb thinks all movies deserve at least ten lines of text. This one doesn't but here goes.

The music was almost interesting. The young actors tried their best but unfortunately when there is no plot it is hard for the characters to develop. Many have gone on to act in real movies so I guess this was some kind of learning experience for them. Actually, the most impressive thing about this movie was the ability of the filmmaker to get so many talented and pretty young people to be in the film to begin with. Perhaps she has a future as a producer. She would be much better off if she let someone else write the script, direct the movie and come up with an better idea then let's rip off a mediocre Linkletter movie.

I graduated in 1998 and high school was nothing like this. This movie is highly dramatized and different groups of people would never party together. Unfunny, boring, slow, and has way too many Dazed and Confused vibes.

I have to say, that when i started watching it, I was expecting a typical teenager film with a few laughs and meaningless ideas. However, i was completely surprised to find myself with a great cast with a lot of young upcoming actors and some new faces which i found were also good. The fact that this film is not centered only on one person's life and stories, but on a group of teenagers who are on the brink of becoming adults, is enthralling. It shows us how different groups, races and sexuality are not important in 1999, where drugs and alcohol are a big factor in teenager lives. Furthermore, i feel that, being a teenager myself, i can relate to the insecurities these teenagers feel and at the same time have a laugh at the film as it is kept pretty real. There really are some funny parts! This film takes in a lot of ideas and thoughts which can be reflected on. It is not just another teenager film. It is well written and well worth watching.

"Remember the Daze" is a 2007 direct-to-DVD release whose main claim to fame is an ensemble of the hottest young actresses ever assembled (at least in recent memory). For viewers looking for that sort of thing it starts with then unknowns Leighton Meester and Amber Heard; and doesn't really go downhill much from there with Marnette Patterson, etc.

This is one of those 24-hour important transitional day teen movies, which are produced every few years and key in on a day that marks the passing from one stage of life to another. In this case it is 1999 high school graduation party night (in North Carolina) as the seniors prepare to move on to life after high school. Think "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998), "Dazed and Confused" (1993), and "American Graffiti" (1973). Throw in some elements and cast members from "Sleepover" (2004) along with the lyrical qualities of "Empire Records" (1995) and maybe even a little of "Sixteen Candles" (1984).

The only thing really unique about "Remember the Daze" is that Jess Manafort (the writer and director) is a relatively young woman. So the point-of-view is more female oriented; and the parts of the female characters are better written and much more believable that those of the males. Intuitively you would think that this would give the film a box office advantage over its predecessors. The many hot babes and some comedy, drug use, and misbehaving should attract a teen boy target audience and the more cerebral and sensitive dialogue should connect with girls of almost any demographic.

Unfortunately the wheels mostly fall off and the film fails to make the sentimental connection Manafort was hoping to achieve. It probably has something to do with too many stories being told, more than in the other films mentioned, and passing some vague tipping point where there are so many that the audience struggles to tap into any one particular character for point-of-view and strong identification purposes.

Also a problem was too much emphasis on the two weakest stories in the bunch; Heard's struggle to break up with her terminally depressed boyfriend (together they sap the energy from every scene in which they appear) and Patterson's struggle to break up with her terminally depressing boyfriend (who is physically and emotionally interchangeable with the assorted members of his moronic but staggeringly unfunny homeboy pack). Mostly you just end up feeling embarrassed for the poor folks tasked with playing such poorly written parts.

The film has some entertaining moments. Meester and Katrina Begin make the most of their limited screen time, and manage to inject a lot of badly needed comic relief. They represent a fusion of the Ron Howard - Richard Dreyfuss - Cindy Williams characters, struggling to sort out an upcoming geographical separation.

Stella Maeve ("Lightly" - I love that character name) and John Robinson ("Bailey) have a sweet and believable romance that is nicely sold by the way the two actors gently tease their roles. Each year in high school I recall romances where an incoming freshman girl pulled an older but less mature upperclassman out of his shell, but for some reason the dynamic has been neglected in films.

Even with the missteps already noted, Patterson is excellent in what turns out to be the biggest part in the production (after editing but probably not in the original script as she gets no billing on the main promotional material). This is essentially Jennifer Love Hewitt"s "Can't Hardly Wait" character, this time mostly played for laughs but not aggressively enough written so that the absurdist elements are not as effective as they could have been.

A distanced and largely silent guy (Charles Chen) with a still camera bookends the film; the quintessential class historian who participated in nothing but is destined to one day serve as the class' collective memory. They go out on an elaborate crane shot that goes up and into a second-story window to pan across a montage of his just developed photos. He also serves the Wolfman Jack role, with his constant presence a lyrical commentary and a way to bring unity to the disparate story elements.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.