Alicia Silverstone’s landmark performance in Clueless is so deeply entrenched in our nomenclature that when she pops on the persona again in modern times for a Super Bowl commercial this year, people instantly notice.
Though she’s not been able to really achieve that level of success and recognition again, she’s been a mainstay in smaller roles and in less-glamorized movies, especially after a turn in the superhero world. If nothing else, it’s worth going back and seeing some of her earlier works to notice the nuance she brought to roles, which can help in appreciation of what she does with a character to this day. Not always one to take herself too seriously, it’s allowed her to keep at it through the decades, including some strong theater performances. Also, did you know that, according to Wikipedia (we know, we know) she has had five unsold/unaired pilots throughout her career, showing a resiliency for sure.
With a movie premiering just this year, called Perpetrator, along with two more movies on the horizon, Reptile and Tunnels, let’s take a look back at the best of Silverstone to date.
10. Catfight (2016)
For fans of Killing Eve (excluding, as we all do, season four), seeing Sandra Oh go toe-to-toe with Anne Heche is a treat. Adding in Silverstone makes the movie a worthwhile go, especially if you don’t have time (it’s 96 minutes). Silverstone plays Lisa, who is the girlfriend of Ashley (Heche), with the story starting out in earnest during a dinner party. Lisa is a caterer, and enlists Ashley to help out with the event, during which Ashley runs into Veronica (Oh), a nemesis from college. The two first trash talk each other then get into an actual fight, during which Veronica falls down stairs and goes into a coma for two years.
After she wakes up, she discovers her life has gone to ruins. Upon running into Ashley again, Veronica this time gets the upper hand and it’s Ashley who winds up in a coma. During this time, Lisa leaves Ashley, and when she wakes up, her life is also in ruins. The two leads continue to brawl literally until the very end.
9. The Tribes of Palos Verdes (2017)
Again, it’s a smaller role for Silverstone in an independent film, but one in which she is able to bring the most out of the character, Ava. It’s a visually gorgeous movie in a very scenic area, but the movie leaves a little lacking. Her role doesn’t offer a lot of airtime as the realtor turned love interest for a man, Phil (Justin Kirk), who was married to Jennifer Garner’s character, Sandy. Sandy and Ava have a strong scene together, but it fades away as the movie turns its focus on the children in the tale, including Ava’s son Adrian (Noah Silver).
8. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
As gorgeous as it is agonizing, The Killing of Sacred Deer is mesmerizing to behold and can bring you to tears pretty easily. Not a big role for Silverstone, but she shows that she still can hold a scene and deliver a riveting performance during her time playing the mother of a teenage boy whose father died during surgery years earlier. Being another collaboration between Colin Ferrell and director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster), it’s not the easiest movie to explain, but it’s definitely riveting and brutal all at once.
7. Batman & Robin (1997)
This might have been the moment, and the movie, where things started to take a turn for Silverstone away from sought-after roles and prominence. She still showed up in movies after this, but starting here, the roles were fewer and farther between, and usually not in anything that was considered to be a big hit (aside from maybe Scooby-Doo 2 and a small role in Tropic Thunder).
Quite possibly one of the most pandered films of all time, the George Clooney-led Batman escapade features caricatures on top of caricatures, with Silverstone’s performance as Batgirl getting lost in the shuffle. While others like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Carrey did their damndest to steal the spotlight and distract viewers from the trainwreck happening all around them (with them inside the train in this analogy), Silverstone actually played a subdued and down-to-earth character, which stood out just for being, well, normal. The rendezvous with this travesty might have steered her in another direction, or maybe the movie being so awful kept some away from hiring her, but either way, it was a little while before she was in some good roles again.
6. Blast From the Past (1999)
It feels right to include this movie here, especially with Brendan Fraser’s recent return to success in Whale and Silverstone re-entering our lives with her reprisal of her Clueless character, Cher, for a Super Bowl commercial that just about everyone loved. The rom-com features Fraser playing Adam Webber, who has been living in a fallout shelter during the Cold War before emerging at the age of 35 in the late 1990’s. Being from a different era, he and Silverstone’s character, named Eve with a bit of tongue-in-cheek here, meet but have totally different views of the world and mannerisms. It’s a classic fish-out-of-water tale, but with the charisma of both Fraser and Silverstone, their affection on-screen is palpable and the tale is actually not too bad. It tries hard, and falls short of excellence, but it still stands out in the genre.
5. The Crush (1993)
Silverstone’s first movie remains a memorable one. It definitely gave a young Silverstone a chance to show off some range as both ends from innocent to crazy and obsessed as her teenage character, Adrian, goes further and further off the rails in pursuit of a man twice her age, played by Cary Elwes. Silverstone is totally believable as a teenager who has a crush spiral out of control as she convinces herself that the man she longs for is meant for her, going to very extreme and disturbing lengths to win him as her own.
4. Beauty Shop (2005)
As part of an ensemble cast in this Queen Latifah-led project, Silverstone had a chance to shine even in another movie that wasn’t really that amazing. The interplay between the cast is solid, but the movie lacks that extra layer of chemistry that would cause the audience to empathize and truly care about most of the characters involved. Silverstone plays Lynn, the only white stylist at the beauty salon where she works, and she has a hard time fitting in. As things progress, Gina (Latifah) ends up developing a hair conditioner that catches the eye of CoverGirl, leading the salon to hire a male stylist, James. Lynn and James fall in love, but things around the salon go awry. It all ends up OK in the end though, because it’s a feel-good movie, and the bad folks get what’s coming to them.
3. Last Survivors (2021)
A more recent movie that has more of Silverstone in it, this apocalyptic survivalist thriller relies a bit too much on twists and exposé, but still gives Silverstone a great spotlight. In it, she plays Henrietta, a hermit, who has as chance encounter with a man, Jake (Drew Van Acker). Though the story contains plenty of plot holes, at the heart of it is two people who have to learn to see the world through different eyes, to let go of biases, and to learn to trust humans.
2. Vamps (2012)
Silverstone and Krysten Ritter as vampires in New York City having a grand ole time, what’s not to like? OK sure, it’s a bit hokey, with the trope of the movie being the two girls, Goody (Silverstone) and Stacy (Ritter) trying their best to fit in to the modern world while also abstaining from drinking human blood and surviving on rats. And, get this, the US is using the Patriot Act to hunt down vampires, which the duo thwart and throw a party to celebrate with the other vamps. Aside from that, the pair learn that if their stem vampire, Ciccerus (played phenomenally by Sigourney Weaver), who led to Goody turning in the first place, is ever killed, they’ll turn back into their real human age. Eventually, Stacy gets a boyfriend and becomes pregnant, but for the baby to survive, they’ll have to kill their stem vamp, which leads to some big-time decision making and action that plays out to a decent ending.
1. Clueless (1995)
As if you didn’t know this would still be at the top of the list. It remains Silverstone’s best and most famous role, and really, the movie still holds up even with some things in it a bit outdated — including the much-pandered romance between her character, Cher, and her step-brother, played by Paul Rudd. At least they weren’t related! It’s the classic teen comedy/drama ratcheted up all the way, with cliques, tropes, bad romance, fashion, love, lust, alcohol, and coming-of-age drama. The lingo set this movie apart from a lot of pretenders at the time, and since.
For those who are clueless (sorry) about the film still, Cher Horowitz and her friends Dionne Davenport (Stacey Dash) and Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy) run their school, and consider themselves matchmakers for all, including teachers. They have a blast throughout the movie, which includes some great coming-of-age performances from Donald Faison, Elisa Donovan, and Breckin Meyer, and its a bit raunchier than some might have realized when watching it at a younger age.
Worth rewatching, and hoping for some kind of sequel/reboot but only if it stays true to the original and reels back in Silverstone and company.