Winona Ryder and Christian Slater star in this quirky 1989 black comedy about being cool in high school.  Shannon Doherty also stars.

 

Ryder plays Veronica Sawyer, daughter of a well-to-do couple who eat a lot of pate.  Veronica hangs with the coolest girls in school, who all happened to be named Heather.  When they're not abusing the fat kids or the geeks, they play croquet in Veronica's backyard.

 

One day at school, Veronica meets Jason Dean.  If you couldn't tell he was a rebel by his black trench coat, the Colt .45 he whipped out and fired during lunch made it clear.  Veronica and JD are soon inseparable, and they set out to bring down the Heathers.

 

They trick the head Heather into drinking some drain cleaner.  Then, thanks to Veronica's talent for forgery, make it look like a suicide.  Well, Heather #1 turns out to be even more popular after death, and the new head Heather (Doherty) is even more of a bitch.

 

Next to go are two big jocks.  "Suicide" also does wonders for them.  Veronica realizes that maybe being cool isn't so cool after all.  She ditches JD, which makes her his next target.  And after that, JD plans his ultimate form of revenge - blowing up the school with everyone in it!

 

Overall review:  **  This film could have been billed as "Heathers: Being Cool is Murder."  I suppose this film was edgy when it came out, but in a post-Columbine world, it's hard to see it as very funny.  Still, its observances about school cliques ring true.