Women's Pictures - Amy Heckerling's Vamps
Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 11:00AM 
How does it feel to be a relic in the new millenium? No shade intended towards Amy Heckerling. Her most recent film was obsessed with just that question. In Vamps, Heckerling attempted to take a bite (sorry) out of youth culture using 2012's movie monster of the moment, the vampire. But in her latest foray into social satire, the genre-defining writer/director who gave a voice to two generations of teens seemed drained (sorry) of the empathy that had made her previous work enjoyable. To put it bluntly: Vamps sucks.*
*If you dislike puns, don't B negative. They only get worse from here.
For a film about youth, Vamps has a surprising number of well-preserved throwbacks. Alicia Silverstone stars as Goody, a 300 year old vampire. She's joined by a colorful-though-pale cast including Sigourney Weaver, Wallace Shawn, Malcolm MacDowell, Richard Lewis, Marilu Henner and Krysten Ritter, who plays Goody's sister vampire, Stacy. Goody's hundreds of years of un-life as a 20-something have given her pesrpective on the fashions and follies of humanity, though she thinks the latest generation's slang and smartphones are a pain in the neck (sorry). Stacy, who was turned in the 1980s, acts as Goody's ambassador to modern youth culture, at least until Stacy falls for a human (Dan Stevens) in her night film class at NYU. Stacy's relationship, and the return of a past beau, suddenly makes Goody's world a bloody (sorry) mess. More...
Bite me.
As a satire, Vamps is Dead On Arrival (sorry). Heckerling's conceit gives her a chance to showcase her favorite pop culture ephemera from years past (mostly in the form of old fashions and older movies), but Goody's toothless (sorry) observations about college-age Millenials mimics any New York Times op-ed from the last decade: kids should get off their phones! Modern slang makes no sense! Social media isn't a substitute for personal interaction!
Whereas in Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Heckerling had empathized with her young characters even as she poked fun at them, in Vamps there is no such levity or understanding. The result is never biting (sorry), but often tries for a bubbly tone like Heckerling's past films. Unfortunately, even with de-fanged vampires and no real villain, Vamps still comes off as bitter. As a result, Vamps is a bloodless (sorry), shallow satire of modernity.
While I balk at equating the writer/director with her main character, it's possible that in 2012 Amy Heckerling felt passed by. After the mammoth success of Clueless, Heckerling hadn't really had another hit of comparable size. She'd created a spinoff of Clueless that lasted three years, then floated around TV and film projects. This was nothing like the mammoth success of the 1980s and early 1990s Heckerling had experienced. Whether you read Vamps as Heckerling yelling at kids to get off her lawn, or as a misguided attempt to tap back into the zeitgeist, the fact remains that for over 10 years, Heckerling was a powerful voice for and about teen culture. Her ability to strike a tonal balance between biting comedy and sympathetic satire helped her elevate a genre. With 80s and 90s nostalgia at its peak and a new project from Heckerling in development, it's safe to say: Amy Heckerling's due for another great movie.
Next Month on Women's Pictures: Celebrate Halloween with 5 Women Directors!
I asked for folks' favorite female-directed horror films across social media. Out of 27 suggestions, these 5 films created a 5-way tie for first place! Join us if you dare...
10/1 Near Dark (1983) - Directed by Women's Pictures subject Kathryn Bigelow, this 80s vampire flick has gained major cult status since its gory original release. (Amazon Disc)
10/8 Ravenous (1999) - Director Antonia Bird worked in many different genres and mediums before directing this period piece thriller about cannibalism during the Mexican-American War. (Amazon) (Netflix)
10/15 American Psycho (2000) - Is it satire? Is it fantasy? Is it horror? Mary Harron's film about a psychopathic investment banker has been called many things, including a new classic. (Amazon) (Netflix)
10/22 A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) - For those who think vampires are passe, Ana Lily Amirpour's stylish film moves the vampire myth to Iran to become "The First Iranian Vampire Western." (Amazon) (Netflix)
10/29 The Babadook (2014) - If it's in a word, or in a look, you can't escape from first-time feature director Jennifer Kent's The Babadook. (Amazon) (Netflix)
Reader Comments (6)
Stop apologizing. Your review was funny.
Another funny and fair minded review-well done Anne-Marie !
I haven't given Vamps a watch, and god knows the cast is great, but staying on the zeitgeist forever is impossible for any writer/director.
Maybe Heckerling needs to give a different age group a try.
I like all five of of your Halloween choices, but I will have to psyche myself up to re-watch
"The Babadook".
Personally, I think Vamps is a cute little film, though only about half of it works.
Now I freely admit that I will watch Krysten Ritter in anything, but I also think that she and Silverstone play off each other very well. And I like Goody's personal story (yes, even her past romance with hippie lawyer Richard Lewis)... I think her overwhelming memories of old New York and her children in the climactic scene in Times Square is actually kind of a moving moment.
But the vampire lore is a mess, many of the performances are WAY over the top, and all your comments about the generic "Get off my lawn!" feel of the film's attitude toward the younger generation are dead on. What's more, there's the confounding genetic question of how Wallace Shawn could EVER be the father of Dan Stevens!
I tried so hard to watch/like Vamps. It made me too sad, I couldn't do it. Boy though, everyone involved has lifetime goodwill from me.
This review is as charming and fun as the movie was trying to be. Anne Marie for president.
I hadn't heard of Vamps until it landed on the best of the year list for several reviewers (I forget which site). I really liked it. We cried at the end.
There aren't enough movies with two female leads who are true best friends and really love each other, and will do anything for each other. Romy and Michelle, Kirsten and Michelle in "Dick", Thelma and Louise.
Co-signing the "doesn't quite work, but..." sentiment. Much of the comedy is flat, but there are some really effective ideas about what it's like to live forever, the impermanence of most culture, etc. That sequence where Goody sees NYC change and rebuild over the decades stuck with me.