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Randy "Pink" Floyd (Jason London) occupies a middle ground, equally at ease with the in-crowd as he is with the geeks and juniors. A star football player, everyone has high hopes for his future, pressure that he dulls with a little beer and grass. As the teenagers cruise the night, accompanied by older drop-out Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) and dope-head Slater (Rory Cochrane), their sole aim is to find a party. Incidents such as knocking down mail-boxes at high speed or Mitch's first six-pack lighten the directionless tone, though much of the time people do nothing when they have the chance to do everything. Fortunately a party comes together, so everyone heads out of the town in the hope of getting laid.
Dazed and Confused is a very simple movie, detailing less than 24 hours of out-of-school mayhem, and that's its charm. This was a period when being a teenager was innocent and easy, beyond the angst of the Vietnam War yet still free to experiment with drugs and have a wild time. To its credit, Dazed and Confused recreates this era exquisitely, filling the screen with spot-on fashions and beefed-up cars, while the soundtrack evokes a deep feeling of nostalgia for the decade. By putting so much effort into reconstructing the background texture, Richard Linklater avoids the pressing need for a strong story to tie his characters together. Instead the focus roams over the entire age group, kids who are free to move, interact and learn inside this bubble from the Seventies.
The characters presented cover all of the stereotypical bases yet, thanks to excellent and unmannered performances, they mostly escape from their moulds. As a body, the students don't worry excessively about the future and its consequences, although there are always a few who buck the trend and become prematurely old by pondering what to do. Equally, while the majority focus their energies on removing all traces of consciousness by the dawn, a few sense that there's something better than this available. These little differences separate individuals from the crowd, giving rise to several perceptive instances amongst the driving-around tedium.
Ultimately Dazed and Confused could have achieved greater things, with more sharply defined roles and increased impetus. What there is to the storyline isn't much, dropping an initially promising thread concerning the coach's pledge before real conflict comes and shakes these layabouts to life. While the characters themselves are interesting and charismatic enough, the fitful pace and loose structure negate any residual bite, diluting the feeling of resolution. All of the roles are of roughly equal importance, which allows a wide coverage, but only Pink, Mitch and Sabrina are eventually worth caring about. On the other hand, maybe you just have to be American to identify with these particular teenage dreams? Whichever, Dazed and Confused is lightly entertaining and a rather impressive recreation of youth (even if viewed through the rose-tinted spectacles of experience).
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