Dazed and Confused

Richard Linklater's 1993 Dazed and Confused (a far more honest school flick than his candy-coated Hollywood fluff piece School of Rock) is an amiably ramshackle cult classic that dips in and out of the lives of several high schoolers (including Jason London, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, and Milla Jovovich) on the last day of classes in the year 1976 (bongs and bellbottoms galore). Presented in 2004 in a disappointing “flashback edition” re-release (with deleted scenes and a handful of pointless PSAs), Dazed and Confused makes its third appearance on DVD in a Criterion Collection edition with an excellent transfer and substantial extras, including an all new audio commentary track by Linklater, a 46-minute “making-of” documentary (including footage from the 10th anniversary celebration), cast and director interviews, the aforementioned deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes segments, audition tapes, and a 74-page booklet featuring essays and memories from cast and crew. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—Aug. 2, 2011—Universal, 103 min., R, $26.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1993's Dazed and Confused boasts a good transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras are identical to those on the standard DVD release, including deleted scenes (15 min.), “The Blunt Truth” spoof on the evils of marijuana (5 min.), two other brief retro PSAs, and trailers. New to the Blu-ray release is a music option that identifies tracks during the film, and the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a solid Blu-ray debut for a contemporary teen classic, although you might want to wait for the more comprehensive Criterion Blu-ray edition, coming out October 25.][Blu-ray Review—Oct. 25, 2011—Criterion, 102 min., R, $39.95—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 1993's Dazed and Confused boasts a fine transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras are identical to those on the DVD release, including audio commentary by director Richard Linklater, a collection of exclusive on-set interviews with the cast and crew (89 min.), a “making-of” featurette with footage from the 10-year anniversary celebration (46 min.), behind-the-scenes footage (31 min.), deleted scenes (26 min.), audition footage (24 min.), trailers, and a booklet featuring essays, reprinted recollections from cast and crew, character profiles from the companion book, and the original film poster by Frank Kozik. Bottom line: this features-laden Criterion edition is preferred to the more modest Universal Blu-ray release of Linklater's contemporary teen classic.]