RENAISSANCE MAN is a really-not-that-bad inspirational teacher movie directed by Penny Marshall (A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN) and written by Jim Burnstein (a rookie who later did D3: THE MIGHTY DUCKS). It’s corny in the usual ways but also benefits from the simple appeal of the formula and a more-subtle-than-usual performance by Danny DeVito (ROMANCING THE STONE, THE JEWEL OF THE NILE, BATMAN RETURNS).
He plays Bill Rago, a fuck up in the world of advertising who gets fired after missing an important meeting with out-of-town VIPs. Ed Begley Jr. (last seen two weeks ago in EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES) appears briefly as his friend Jack who hired him and still cares about him but has run out of jobs for him. While defending him to the boss Jack says “the man’s had a few personal setbacks the last couple years,” and we can infer that one of them is a divorce, but I like that they never elaborate. Maybe it was some weird shit too. We don’t know. (read the rest of this shit…)
I wasn’t intending to include CLUELESS in my Summer of ’95 retrospective, since I mainly like to look at “blockbuster” type movies. And I feel very familiar with it. I saw it a long time ago and then I’ll watch parts of it on cable now and then. But I think Mr. Majestyk or somebody said he was hoping I would do it and you know I’m like a DJ, I try to read the audience and move the crowd and what not.
And man, when you sit down and watch it from beginning to end for the first time in a while, CLUELESS really holds up. It’s a funny, unique movie, one that’s simultaneously very ’90s in attitude, music and cultural references, and timeless because of its stylishly heightened (I hope) depiction of the world of Los Angeles rich kids. And you know what, nothing against James Acheson, who won a costume design Oscar for RESTORATION that year, but do you think he ever sent flowers to Mona May, who did this shit? I mean come on. It’s brilliant. Apparently she got her start working with Julie Brown on MTV (not Downtown, the funny one who plays the gym teacher here).
Alicia Silverstone plays Cher, the spoiled daughter of an angry widower lawyer (Dan Hedaya, ALIEN RESURRECTION). She and Stacey Dash as her best friend Dionne (they were “both named after famous singers of the past who now do infomercials”) in some ways fit the stereotype of Beverly Hills teen girls: they obsess over expensive name brand clothes and their own popularity, they think less about school and their futures than about boys and parties (though they don’t seem very interested in drinking and look down on anything more than occasional drug use). They are superficial, but they’re generally well-meaning, nice people. Then one day, inspired by ex stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd, GEN-X COPS 2: METAL MAYHEM)’s comment about Marky Mark* attending a tree-planting ceremony, Cher decides to try using her popularity for good.
*This was before FEAR, let alone BOOGIE NIGHTS, so nobody called him Mark Wahlberg, not even his parents.(read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
Bill Reed on Blue Moon: “I enjoyed this one because I love talky Hawke/Linklater joints. I agree the Forrest Gump moments rankle, but I also…” Feb 23, 06:29
daniel on Heart Eyes: “To quote the numbers from Segal’s article again, the other side did 1,000 Israeli civilians in a day. So I…” Feb 23, 05:55
Mr. Majestyk on Heart Eyes: “I can’t imagine being so callous in a public forum about the deaths of 1800 innocent people in a single…” Feb 23, 04:37
Jam on Heart Eyes: “I have a buddy who worked on a movie with various people involved in SCREAM VI (including MB) and -…” Feb 23, 04:09
daniel on Heart Eyes: “I’m not mad at her, I just think it sounds dumb. Even Segal’s article, I’m definitely not a genocide historian,…” Feb 23, 00:34
Timo on Kill Bill: Vol. 2: “I remember seeing the first Kill Bill in cinemas being an almost like a religious experience back in the day.…” Feb 22, 22:02
Nabroleon Dynamite on Deathstalker (2025): “Got this on a blind buy at Walmart today. I’ll give it a watch tonight and see where I land,…” Feb 22, 18:08
Curt on Back to the Future: “Tonight I saw NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE, a guerilla indie movie which is spun off from a…” Feb 22, 18:01
VERN on Heart Eyes: “It seems like a reach to be mad at her then. Also me and pretty much everybody I talked to…” Feb 22, 17:57
Grasshoppa on You Can’t Win (2026): “Thanks for the review Vern, sorry you didn’t like it. I remember hearing about this back when it was being…” Feb 22, 15:00
daniel on Heart Eyes: “Yeah, I would say that technically she was wrong at the time. Israel had the right to retaliate after October…” Feb 22, 03:21
VERN on Heart Eyes: “I don’t know, daniel. I felt she was very clearly right at the time. You seem to be saying that…” Feb 21, 21:55
Republican Cloth Coat on You Can’t Win (2026): “I have the Amok edition, haven’t re-read it in years, but I remember it being a thrilling kind of read.…” Feb 21, 08:16
daniel on Heart Eyes: “@Andrew Well, it was mostly the timing of it. She was fired from Scream on November 2023. From what I…” Feb 20, 23:45
Murder Slim on Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets: “It’s an absolutely brilliant watch, capturing the atmosphere and character of a dive bar perfectly. Glad you’ve shone a light…” Feb 20, 14:55
June 3rd, 1994
