Heathers (1989)/Joe Bob's Last Drive-In

 Veronica had the reactions so often felt by a lot of teenagers who were so fucking over the cruelty, lies ("exaggerations"), bullying, crassness, status bullshit, pranks, and importance of carrying on appearances so built into the machinery of highschool. Problem is she finds herself attracted to a psychopath with a dad who is kvetched by challenges to his demolition business. Slater, at this time of my youth, I knew primarily from Legend of Billie Jean and Gleaming the Cube. There's a moment where Ryder's Veronica burns herself with a car lighter and Slater's JD uses her hand to light up his cigarette! At the story's most absurd, the high school top brain asks the spirited "hippie" teacher to give him a copy of a VHS tape for his preppie college application...the recording of a teen suicide prevention publicity stunt for broadcast. Of course, I adore Winona. I love Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, not surprising. I loved the aforementioned Slater films and Pump Up the Volume. So Heathers seemed perfect for some dark comedy nut like me. I didn't like JD at'all so how he was so alluring to Veronica seemed only to me in that bad boy way. I totally would have been head over heels for Betty Finn, and appropriately detest Heather #1 and #2. The suicide angle, I think, might be a sticking point, either way, but when Veronica stops Heather #3 from doing it and a picked-on girl for her weight isn't killed when walking into traffic, there's real heart (not just a dark one) behind the satirical punch.

Joe Bob really knocks it out of the park with his commentary and analysis of the film in The Last Drive-In. I would probably have a hard time watching this film without it now. When Joe Bob brings up the point of Leopold and Loeb to describe JD and Veronica, and how this setting feels totally California instead of Ohio, I was nodding my head, Uh huh, uh huh.

My favorite scene is definitely Veronica and Heather #2 discussing the petition, inspired by JD blackmailing Heather #2 over "compromising photos". Heather #2 is totally transitioned to Heather #1 with Veronica trying to appeal to whatever humanity might still be left... finding none.

Veronica trying to stop a psychopath's escalation to explode a building full of teenagers and doing so is a relief considering how much he did get away with.

No one furiously takes to a diary like Ryder. The oft-mentioned dialogue, of course, could be used for countless memes.