• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
• Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), French, Portuguese, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
  
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
  
• Region: ABC (Region-Free)
• Rating: PG-13
  
• Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
• Run Time: 97 Mins.
• Studio: Paramount Home Media Distribution
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: May 1, 2012
• List Price: $22.99

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Purchase Clueless on Blu-ray at CD Universe

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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Film

[Rating:4/5]

Writer/director Amy Heckerling’s (Fast Times at Ridgemont High; Johnny Dangerously; Look Who’s Talking) 1995 teen comedy Clueless, loosely based on the classic Jane Austen 1815 novel Emma, easily tapped into the West Coast teen culture of the mid-90s and the alternative music scene that was still heavily grunge influenced at the time. Centered around Cher (Alicia Silverstone), a rich 16-year-old high school teen in Beverly Hills who’s life revolves around the superficial – fashion, popularity, and social engagements – and her rich friend Dionne (Stacey Dash). The ditzy Cher and her best friend Dionne take it upon themselves to start matchmaking for two of their teachers and also undergo a makeover for new girl in school, Tai (the late Brittany Murphy; Across the Hall; Sin City) while also trying to turn her into a popular boy magnet. Meanwhile, back at home, Cher’s ex-step brother Josh (Paul Rudd; Our Idiot Brother; Dinner for Schmucks; I Love You, Man) is in from college. The older, more grounded and, definitely more intelligent Josh begins to stir weird emotions in the, up until now, boyfriend-less Cher, who has always seen her stepbrother as nothing but a nuisance.

While Clueless is certainly not Oscar material, there’s a clever use of language and an undeniable charm to Clueless that makes it sort of irresistible. It’s like a Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body; Juno) comedy minus the cynicism, thus it has a far broader appeal.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

Clueless looks quite good on Blu-ray given its nearly 20-year vintage (wow, two decades already, really?). The color palette filled with bold primary colors like red, yellow, green, and blue really pops in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encodement from Paramount that features a clean and nicely textured transfer. Film grain is present, but unobtrusive and natural in appearance. Overall contrast is just a little dim and white looked a little blown out in a few spots, but otherwise, the overall impact of the image was quite pleasing.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

A typical teen comedy mix from the mid-90s, Clueless arrives on Blu-ray with a competent, but not very exciting DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) mix. The surround channels offer nothing much beyond very low level ambience while the sound across the front has just a slight bit of motion. Dialogue showed a little bit of clipping, but only sporadically. The musical soundtrack, consisting mainly of 90s alternative music, sounds reasonably rich and dynamic with a musical depth to its low end, but highs are just a little edgy. Still, the sound works well for the material at hand.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:2.5/5]

The extras for Clueless bring nothing really new to the table. All the featurettes are ported over SD materials previously available. There is a BD-J driven in-movie trivia challenge and two HD trailers for Clueless that won’t have much replay value.

The supplements:

• Clue or False Trivia Game – An in-movie trivia challenge.
• The Class of ’95 (1.33:1; SD; 00:18:31) – A featurette about casting Clueless.
• Creative Writing (1.33:1; SD; 00:09:39) – A brief look at the evolution of the creation of the film from TV pilot to the big screen.
• Fashion 101 (1.33:1; SD; 00:10:46) – The fashion of Clueless.
• Language Arts (1.33:1; SD; 00:08:09) – Like, learn how to speak like the kids from Clueless.
• Suck ‘n Blow: A Tutorial (1.33:1; SD; 00:02:47)
• Driver’s Ed (1.33:1; SD; 00:03:49)
• We’re History (1.33:1; SD; 00:08:52)
• Trailers:
• Teaser Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
• Theatrical Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3.5/5]

This 90s teen comedy classic might prompt an initial response of, “where are they now” for its two main leads, Alicia Silverstone and Stacey Dash, who seem to be not so visible these days, but Donald Faison, Paul Rudd and the late Brittany Murphy definitely went on to far greater successes on the large and small screen. Paramount has done a bang up job bringing this film to Blu-ray, despite the disappointing supplements.

Additional Screen Captures

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[amazon-product]B006YZOWAE[/amazon-product]

Purchase Clueless on Blu-ray at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]

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