Dazed and Confused

“See it with a Bud.”  Small town America, 1976. The last day of school. Bongs blaze, bell-bottoms ring, and rock and roll rocks. Writer/director Richard Linklater’s honest, hilarious, and endlessly quotable film eavesdrops on a group of seniors-to-be and incoming freshman as they celebrate the start of summer vacation with one event-packed night of hanging out, partying down and ending up dazed and confused.  Fueled by a blasting, stadium-ready soundtrack and a yearbook’s worth of future stars – including Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and, in his film debut, Matthew McConaughey as perma-stoned, feather-haired burnout David “all right, all right, all right” Wooderson – Dazed and Confused is a laugh-out-loud love letter to a bygone era that speaks to all generations by brilliantly capturing the endless uncertainty, angst and excitement of that teenage wasteland known as “adolescence.”  (Dir. by Richard Linklater, 1993, USA, 102 mins., Rated R)