My 2020 Post-(Virtual) Reunion Analysis Part II
Here is Part II of my Dazed and Confused Virtual Reunion analysis and recap. If you missed Part I, check it out here.
I want to start Part II by talking about the biggest topic that I haven't addressed yet, and that's Rory Cochrane's (Ron Slater) performance. As I've mentioned previously, you won't find too many actors Zoom-ing into events like these dressed up as their character. A few, but not many. I didn't expect much of that for the Dazed reunion either, but Rory proved me wrong off the bat. For those that don't know, Slater always had his hat on through the whole movie because it was a hat wig - Rory's hair was very short, so they needed a wig to make him look 70's stoner-ish. So Rory pops up on screen for the first time during the virtual script read and low and behold, he has on the hat and the wig and the same color t-shirt from the movie. I was thrilled, because if there was anyone I wanted to do that, it was Slater. Edit to add: On replay I looked more closely at the hat wig and shirt. The shirt seems to be the same pot leaf tee from the movie, and the hat wig also looks identical, so both may be original wardrobe that Rory kept, which is really cool (or he bought them from a Halloween store).
Unfortunately that initial thrill went downhill pretty quickly, as Rory had issues throughout most of the entire broadcast. He seemed to be out of it - slurring words and delivering his lines very slowly. That is, when he actually knew where they were in the script - he was often lost, and pages behind. He seemed to have a lot of trouble keeping up and following along. The narrator Jason Reitman had to provide him with the page and scene numbers many times. Hey, he had a bad night for whatever reason - it happens to all of us. Actually, it turned out to be a bit of a source of fun for me. That he was unreliable seemed very Slater-ish, actually. No, he really didn't deliver the lines as he did 27 years ago. And you could hear some of the other actors laughing while waiting for him to find his place or deliver a line. But the outfit showed that he was trying and he even brought another prop - he had an actual bong for the woodshop scene! It really wasn't that big of a deal.
Only one person took their reaction to Rory a bit overboard, and that was Jason London (Pink). Whenever Rory didn't jump right in with his line, Jason would start repeating "Slater-son" (it sounded like Slater-san though). Eventually he started telling him to wake up and get it together, which seemed a little overboard. To be fair, he did encourage him at times, telling him "you can do it Slater son", but Jason just seemed very impatient with Rory. This seemed odd as Jason had several occasions when he himself was lost or on mute. Here's a great tidbit: at one point right at the end of the script, Jason claimed he was "missing page 93", and you immediately heard McConaughey's voice say "yeah, I got you, I got you" and McConaughey actually delivered some of Pink's lines talking to Coach Conrad until Jason found his place again. That was pretty weird, but actually really cool, as if Wooderson picked up Pink when he was down.
OK, let's talk about the rest of the guests and who played the small parts. I'll break it down by each guest and the role(s) they played that I didn't mention in Part 1, and my review of their performance:
- Richard Linklater - in addition to rewriting the script to match the movie, the great Linklater filled two beloved roles (well actually 3, I'll explain). First he played the assistant coach whose grandmother is 6'3", 250 and runs the 40 in 4.5. It was great to see Richard tell the football players not to get soft this summer chasing the muff around. Then he played the Liquor Store Clerk. I LOVE the job David Blackwell did in this tiny role, and if he couldn't be there then having Linklater do it was the next best thing. "Eat a green thing every day", lol. As for the 3rd role, he did reprise his off screen lines from the original movie - when they bust Hirschfelder, there is a voice from a car driving by saying bad things about the girls in Jodi's car. That was Richard in the movie, and he delivered the line to perfection during the script read.
- Lamorne Morris - he played Melvin and asked Mitch to get him a sixer across the street at the Centennial. I don't know Lamorne from anything, but he did a great job as Melvin. He wore an afro wig and really delivered the lines like he knew them inside and out in the spirit of Jason O. Smith's original performance. Like many of the guests, his comments during the Q&A indicated that he grew up watching the movie repeatedly. Love that they got real fans of the film for these guest spots.
- Adrianne Palicki - she played Ms. Stroud, and Pickford's mom. She may have some other tiny role that I missed, but I think that was it. She did a good job, especially with Ms. Stroud. Something weird happened during the scene with Pickford's mom - I'm not sure if she had a technical issue or what. She delivered the first few lines with some audio difficulty, but then the screen still showed her as someone else was delivering the lines. Adrienne is known for her role on Friday Night Lights. Edit to add: on rewatch, it seemed she was muted at the start of the Mrs. Pickford scene, delivered the first line eventually and then couldn't be heard again and someone (Eiza? Deena?) took over off camera. She did return for the last line a bit later when she says "Frank!". She also played the 8th grade dance chaperone and delivered the male chaperone's line.
- Eiza González - she played Michelle (the Milla Jovovich role), Carl's mom and Mitch's mom. Milla really had almost no lines as Michelle, and so Eiza's big turn was a Carl's mom, and she did a pretty good job with that shotgun scene. Again, I may have missed another small line from another character by Eiza, but I think this was it. Another guest that I don't know from anything else (maybe I should stop watching Dazed so much and branch out, lol). Edit to add: she also played the girl who is forced to propose to Don in the parking lot.
- Zachary Levi - as I mentioned in Part I, he played the role of Clint because Nicky Katt couldn't make it. But he also played Pentico, the kid who borrowed his brother's car to help Mitch, Hirschfelder, Carl and Tommy escape after school. He then played the beer delivery guy, and he really nailed that one, the lines were perfect. Another part he nailed was the old man with the gun who shoots at their car driving away from the Grab N Go. Finally, he played everyone's favorite cop, Richard Rath, who is still upset Wooderson beat him out for all-district. Great job all around by Zachary.
- Ricky Whittle - he played A LOT of small parts: Coach Conrad, Mr. Payne, Pickford's Dad, the old man at the baseball game that talks to Pink ("this arm ready to throw about 2000 yards next fall?"), and the other stoner hanging with Slater, Pickford and Michelle at the beer bust. Another guest star I didn't know, and he's British so it was especially impressive that he did well with the southern accents for his various characters. In fact, during the Q&A Cole Hauser (Benny) said he had no idea he was British and gave him props and respect for his performance. Great job by Ricky.
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