Clueless

In much the same way that we choose our clothes to sell a version of ourselves that’s not the whole truth (if it’s any truth at all), Hollywood has, since its inception, been selling us a version of Los Angeles that only exists for people like Alicia Silverstone’s Cher. Dan Hedaya’s character bellows that “Everywhere in L.A. takes 20 minutes!” In a city with the worst traffic congestion in America, that’s categorically untrue. But Clueless is about people for whom Los Angeles exists only within a 20 minute radius of the Los Angeles Country Club. And what happens when Cher dares to leave that circle? She gets beer on her designer shoes.