HEATHERS

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I've been depressed and overworked lately, and looked for a comedy at the video store. Even though it was about teenagers and suicide (not two of my favorite subjects) I rented HEATHERS. It was a very erratic black comedy, but worthwhile, particularly if you like Winona Ryder or Christian Slater, or if you hated high school.

Parts of HEATHERS are very dreamlike, and these parts are intercut by fairly accurate portrayals of the chaos of high school. Ryder plays the confident of a group of vacuous high school girls, all of whom are named Heather. Ryder is fascinated by Slater, the bad, new kid at school, and son of a man who blows up buildings for a living. After one of the Heathers embarrasses her, Ryder decides to take her revenge. But the revenge turns out to be a murder, and it's "rearranged" to look like a suicide.

The movie is a little ragged on the edges, but its portrayal of the mind set of high school students and teachers is right on the money. And both Ryder and Slater turn in terrific performances.