# Heathers (the movie): Am I Missing Something? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436 "2007-06-10T05:26:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/21 "2007-06-11T00:36:15Z")
May I ask what you hated about it? As for me, I loved it when I was a teenager, and I love it now - at 33. Susan ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/22 "2007-06-11T01:07:40Z")
What I liked about the film was the over-the-top dark humor. I can easily see where that’s not going to appeal to everyone, but for me it’s what made the film. Cliques and such are a fact of life, and get blasted in all sorts of movies, IMNSHO. The graveyard humor of Heathers seems to me to have been unusual, especially for a movie targeted at a teen audience. (Class of '86, here) ---
**Author:** ![Yamirskoonir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c0e974/32.png) [@Yamirskoonir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yamirskoonir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/23 "2007-06-11T01:41:33Z")
“CORNUTS!” and “Sit and spin!” are my two favorite quotes. 😃 I was class of '99, but I loved this film, and had a crush on Slater as he looked at that age. Now, he’s just…_skeevy_. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/24 "2007-06-11T01:55:39Z")
Outstanding movie. It was my favorite movie ever when I first saw it and should still be up there if I thought about it. It is the quintessential black-comedy production and not everyone gets those or even necessarily cares for them if they do. Other good ones in the same genre are Election and Rushmore. I have watched it around other people that didn’t get it at all and they thought that I was the psycho for laughing at things like the funerals and the gay angst double homicide. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/25 "2007-06-11T02:13:47Z")
[QUOTE=YellowTail] I just watched _Heathers_ (with Wynona Ryder) for the first time. (I know, I’m behind the times. :rolleyes: ) I hated it but I get the sense I’m missing out on an inside joke. Was this film being clever on a certain level that I’m missing? Apparently, I totally missed the boat about _All That Jazz_. So, humbled, I approach this film cautiously. Am I just not getting it, or did this film suck? [/QUOTE] Hey–I love All That Jazz! But I think the thing about **Heathers** is that that was the first time that I had ever seen a dark comedy about the teen clique idea. Class of 87 here. I loved that they just played with everything. “Teen suicide: Don’t do it”. Underlining passages in Moby Dick. It was wonderful. The idea of bottled water? They must be gay! I haven’t watched in awhile. It may be dated. But with Buffy, the million horror movies with teens we’ve seen and everything else. I think it was prescient. heart ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/26 "2007-06-11T05:46:36Z")
[QUOTE=Yamirskoonir] “CORNUTS!” [/QUOTE] BQ or plain? B…Q!!! Joe ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/27 "2007-06-11T11:56:56Z")
WhyNot writes: \> My son (just finished 8th grade) doesn’t understand what we’re talking about \> when we talk about cliques or social groups. He found The Breakfast Club \> bewildering, not because he didn’t understand the issues the kids faced, but \> because he didn’t understand the social divides - he couldn’t grok why Claire \> wouldn’t say hi to Brian in the hallway. His only experience, and that of his high \> school aged friends, is a racial divide - black kids in one group and everyone \> else in another, not economic, academics or interest oriented. If Heathers was \> made today, it would be race dividing the students. Is this actually generally true, as opposed to being true in one high school? A friend was descibing to me the diversity in his daughter’s school, and it’s way too diverse to be broken up into something as simple as black/white. Could someone else with some current knowledge of today’s high schools report on their experience? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/28 "2007-06-11T13:43:32Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] Is this actually generally true, as opposed to being true in one high school? A friend was descibing to me the diversity in his daughter’s school, and it’s way too diverse to be broken up into something as simple as black/white. Could someone else with some current knowledge of today’s high schools report on their experience? [/QUOTE] I hope others chime in, as well (although maybe we should take it to IMHO), but I just wanted to point out that it’s not Black/White in his district, either. They are similarly too diverse for that. But it’s Black/White and Asian and Hispanic and Other, with, as always, a few crossover exceptions. His counselor tells me that once it gets into high school it’s Black/Hispanic/White and Asian and Other, but she’s another old fogey like us, so who knows if she’s got it right. (One thing MySpace has convinced me of is that we don’t know our kids or their lives like we think we do.) ETA: I saw a preview two days ago for a movie (drama, not comedy) with just this premise: [Freedom Writers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Writers) with Hillary Swank. While it’s set and based on a book set in the mid-90’s, I think it addresses this issue: that cliques are now based on race, and that the racial/gang fighting outside the school has more influence on what goes on inside than who’s got the latest model car or pair of jeans or who’s the captain of the football team. Perhaps things are different in rural schools. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/29 "2007-06-11T13:55:16Z")
Hmm – I would have been class of '62 if I’d gone to high school in the US, but I didn’t enter a US high school building until 38 years later (when my youngest son started high school here). But I understood _Heathers_ quite well, and thought it was very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/30 "2007-06-11T14:13:52Z")
eskimo ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/31 "2007-06-11T16:33:20Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] “what’s your damage? Brad says you’re being a real cooze”- Probably the only use of that word in a movie. [/QUOTE] From **Reservoir Dogs** : “Lemme tell you what ‘Like a Virgin’ is about. It’s all about this cooze who’s a regular fuck machine…” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/32 "2007-06-11T17:36:45Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] eskimo [/QUOTE] I could be wrong, but I don’t think that word is even in **Moby Dick**. I thinkHeathers is one of the best movies ever made (and Daniel Waters has been on crack ever since. [Happy Campers?](http://imdb.com/title/tt0210094/) What the hell, guy?). I’d chalk the OP’s dislike up to different strokes. i don’t think you have to be from a certain generation to love Veronica Sawyer or quote Heather #1, you just have to be a certain type of person. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/33 "2007-06-11T17:54:23Z")
I love _Heathers_. Not in my top 10, but I’m always happy to watch it. I’m definitely too young to appreciate it as a commentary on my actual high school experience (class of '00), I love the black humor, the clever writing, and the simple absurdity of it all. Some of my favorite bits that haven’t yet been mentioned: [ul][li]The discussion over the use of “myriad” in Heather’s suicide note, and the resultant comment by the teacher[/li][li]“Real life sucks losers dry. If you want to fuck with the eagles, you have to learn to fly.”[/li]“Uncaring and ununderstanding world”[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/34 "2007-06-11T23:25:14Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] You’re missing a pre-teen/teenage crush on either Winona Ryder or Christian Slater (or both). Without that, even at the time, the movie was not all that good. [/QUOTE] I forget now what my problem was with the movie specifically. Maybe I just got tired of Slater’s shit. I understand they were trying for a non-chalant edginess, but it missed the mark for me. Oh, well, it’s out of my Netflix cue never to haunt me again. BTW, class of '85. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/35 "2007-06-11T23:34:22Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Other good ones in the same genre are Election and Rushmore. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I enjoyed Election and I _loved_ Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/36 "2007-06-11T23:49:14Z")
Nothing really to add other than that I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. I loved it. Class of '90. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/37 "2007-06-12T04:26:03Z")
[QUOTE=Hello Again] Because you’re an idiot [/quote] Oh yeah… that’s it. The girl who introduced me to this movie – later on we set each other up for that exchange all the time (“Dammit, why do I \_\_\_\_\_\_?” “Because you’re an idiot.” “Oh yeah, that’s it…”). Always loved this movie. Immensely quotable. Class of '88. What’s your damage, Heather? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/38 "2007-06-12T05:06:24Z")
37 posts and no one mention how very this post is. Heathers is a very movie. very very. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/39 "2007-06-12T05:09:17Z")
[QUOTE=YellowTail] Yeah, I enjoyed Election and I _loved_ Rushmore. [/QUOTE] Also two of my favorite movies of all time. Hell, I have a _Rushmore_ film poster looking down at me right now. How did you not like _Heathers_? I know it’s hard to stomach Slater at times, but “I love my dead gay son” is one of the greatest lines in cinematic history. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436/40 "2007-06-12T05:17:30Z")
I’m also Class of '87, but I didn’t see the movie until about five years later. Liked it; didn’t love it. The invented slang (done to make it seem more timeless, IIRC), killer croquet and the dark humor were the best parts. Christian Slater was still laid-back, young and cool, and his Jack Nicholson Jr. shtick hadn’t worn thin yet. And Winona Ryder was simply yummily Goth. Haven’t seen it in 10+ years now, and not sure how well it would hold up now. Might have to take another look. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heathers-the-movie-am-i-missing-something/407436.md?page=3)