Heathers by John Ross Bowie

Heathers Reviews

• 
  David

  I'm totally not pulling your dick. This is actually a great little book about Heathers—featuring personal reminiscences, scuttlebutt, critical theory, and a stupid, irrelevant two-page chapter by Amy Poehler wherein she just tries to promote herself.
  
  The screenwriter of Heathers (Dan Waters) actually grew up and went to high school in my hometown. I like that. It seems to validate the medium-grade misery of my own high school experience. Maybe South Bend, Indiana, offers the world a paragon of teenage malice against which others might measure their own cruelty. It's not so great if you're in high school now, I suppose, but it lets me convince myself that things were really bad and I wasn't just being a big ol' pussy about it. If I were more litigious, I could embark upon a groundbreaking court case in which I sue my high school for the cost of my antidepressants for the remainder of my life. But I know that if I won, my high school—being a Catholic school—would just have me rubbed out to cut down on the payout. The Catholic Church has other, more pressing expenses right now that you may have heard about.
  
  I usually hate books about movies because they're (more often than not) mired in soul-deadening theory that sucks the joy out of the movie only to leave it a lifeless husk of conceptual jibber jabber. But not this one. John Ross Bowie actually seems like a decent guy, unlike most film theorists who are the biggest assholes in history.
  
  Guess what? Did you know the actress who played Heather Chandler, who uttered the line, 'Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?' actually died from a brain tumor in 2001? Did you know that Jennifer Connelly turned down Winona Ryder's role? Did you know that Dan Waters originally wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct Heathers?
  
  No? Well, now you do.
  
  If you love Heathers, why not read this book? It'll give you something to do in between visiting sexually perverse photography exhibits involving tennis rackets.
  
  ES-KI-MO!
• 
  Donna

  I don't quite get how it's possible to write a dull book about such a clever movie.
  
  When it sticks with the basic facts, things like the character names or actor trivia, it's a passable enough read. But those bits are sandwiched between surface level critiques that range from obvious to painfully awkward.
  
  As an example, here's the author on Heather Chandler: "when she spits out, 'Fuck me gently with a chainsaw,' one has the distinct fear that she could handle it." Um, yeah. Sure.
  
  Worst of all are the tedious personal asides, as if any fan of the movie should somehow be interested in the author's high school days and ex-girlfriends.
  
  Totally disappointing.
• 
  Petty Lisbon

  3.5
  
  I think I've read too much media literature (the exact kind that John Ross Bowie describes as "freshman soc major") to look at this through a clear lens. What, a media analysis without racial, gender (okay, that was here) and other forms of critique? The audacity!
  It was okay. When he talked about how adults don't understand teen suicide and grief or interviews of how the movie was made, it was interesting. Some of the topics went into each other way too much instead of feeling more distinct, which I guess is what happens if you're going off a movie. I was curious to know about his teen life (although the incident about getting mugged and writing the n word on a police report just felt like his way of trying to repent and show how he's "with it" now), although it had the same over important tone most people do when talking about high school (including me) that his ex girlfriend (interviewing your ex for a book???? Too damn extra) mentioned on page 58. They didn't really have enough to do with each other, and especially by the end when he was thinking about his kids in relation to Heathers, it just felt like he needed to have a "so what". I appreciate this movie more now, but as an indie movie or a dark comedy instead of in the same teen pile as Degrassi and My So Called Life.
• 
  Carlee Shreve

  this took me forever to read, but it’s okay honestly. it’s a very short book and would take most people a day to read. I love how cynical he is of his own work. Definitely need to watch the movie before reading, if not you will be so confused.
• 
  Peter J.

  John Ross Bowie starts this short and concise book on the film "Heathers" by asking who would want to read a whole book about it? I would. In fact, after finding it on the shelf at the local Barnes & Noble I immediately resigned myself to the fact I would read this; the film itself is a personal favorite, to the degree that it is one of a handful of films that is impossible to start without seeing all the way through.
  
  Now, the book itself is good. Bowie's delves into the film's nooks and crannies to find what makes it resonate the way it does. He also takes detours into the larger issues at play in the film. I preferred the sections on the film itself - multiple times Bowie points out little things that I hadn't considered that make the film shine brighter than ever before. I do wish it had been longer and even more indepth (although, I don't know that it would dramatically improve the book to any real extent). My one key disappointment is that the book came out before the musical adaptation was anything more than announced. The musical is a very worthy adaptation for the modern world and I would like to hear Bowie's thoughts on it.
• 
  Amie Simon

  This is the first Deep Focus book I've read (they're like the 33 and 1/3 series for movies), and while it was semi-entertaining, it had some problems. The chapters kind of jumped all over the place, the author wasn't great at connecting his personal stories to what's in the movie, and it was pretty repetitive. I still enjoyed reading about his communications with the director and screenwriter and all the behind-the-scenes tales that accompanied that, but I feel like he could have spent more time actually discussing parts of Heathers and what was so great about them/why he appreciated them. A good effort overall, but I'm hoping the next one on tap (They Live) is a bit meatier.
• 
  Jane

  It was fun. Breezy. Quick.
  
  As a person who has seen Heathers exactly once (yeterday! It was awesome), I hadn't picked up on many of the details and symbols explored in this book. However, a person who has seen the movie multiple times and/or is just really smart and deep and scholarly probably wouldn't find the insights and analysis to be as interesting or meaningful. This isn't meant to be an extremely serious or enlightening read, I think.
  
  There is a not inconsiderable amount of memoir woven into the text, but it stops just shy of being really annoying and stupid a la Po Bronson.
• 
  Alison Robinson

  I really enjoyed the analysis of the symbolism within the movie- the setting, the naming of characters, the color system in place. I found that intriguing; so much went into the selections. I felt like the interviews with the author's ex-girlfriends (the Heathers) was a grasp. It wasn't necessary and felt a little odd for me. I enjoyed the quick read about one of my favorite films.
• 
  A

  This book has the same problem all the other overly self-consciously "clever" 33-1/3 series books do: they suck all the fun out of listening to an album or watching a movie, and convince you of little more than the fact that all critics are unaware, needy, self-involved douches. Seriously, about 40% of this book was John Ross Bowie's insipid recollections of high school in 80s Manhattan, coupled with page after page of agonizing about whether he should show "Heathers" to his toddler children. I don't give a fuck, dude! Why are you pulling my dick? Oh and PS, your criticism is ham-fisted (really? a 20pp. chapter on the use of color in "Heathers"?), and your "insidery" tidbits can all be found by reading the "Heathers" Wikipedia page. So what exactly is your brain tumor breakfast of a book's reason for existing? That said, any book that strains to simultaneously insult Roger Ebert for being a misogynist and place "Heathers" in the same pantheon as Hamlet is worth a 10min. flip-through.
• 
  Sheba

  Chronicle's approach to film theory and criticism in this series is refreshing, and much of this edition is equally delightful. That being said, some of the overall editing of this edition is maddening and distracting: useless quotes assigned whole chapters, photos without captions, odd choices in photos selected, and far too much useless quoted material. You'll love the personal back story contextualization from the author at first, then become bored at the overextended analogy and self-indulgence as it continues beyond its ripeness. But at a little over 100 pages, even these aspects are forgivable.
  
  
• 
  Alyx

  Fun stuff here. A friend loaned me this one, because we both understand the awesomeness that is Heathers. This is a Deep Focus book, which is sort of the film criticism analogue to Continuum's 33 1/3 series (complete with cool packaging). Bowie incorporates personal narrative and user-friendly film analysis with interviews with director Mark Lehman, writer Daniel Waters, Amy Poehler, and two ex-girlfriends named Heather. Kinda reminded me of the first Girls Studies seminar discussion (Bowie's as obsessed with colors and semiology as I am), which made me strangely homesick. Ideal bathroom reading. I saw that someone did a volume on They Live, so I'll have to check that one out as well.
• 
  Wendy

  This is a quirky mixture and is thus, in its way, kind of appropriate for the film it explores. It isn't particularly scholarly but it is thoughtful. It is anecdotal, but not inappropriately so. It is highly personal but hits enough universal notes that it is accesible. I enjoyed remembering scenes, learning about the writing and filming, and getting other views of a movie that I remember connecting to. It was a quick read and pleasant enough. Certainly worth a look.
• 
  Caitlin

  A somewhat disappointing installment in the Deep Focus series. John Ross Bowie spends most of the book attempting to defend his validity as a Heathers scholar by talking about all the ex-girlfriends he's had, and how some of them were named Heather, and how they gave him lots of insights into young womanhood. Bleh. Skip it and just watch the movie again -- you'll have far more intelligent thoughts on the topic than Bowie was able to muster.
• 
  Mr. B

  It's been a long time since I've seen or thought about this film and I guess I never really thought of it as cutting edge. This collection of essays changed that perspective. Funny, insightful, irreverent, and nostalgia-inducing, this book makes me simultaneously wish for the "good old days" and reminds me why they weren't that good.
• 
  r.b.

  I wish I had written this book. I love the insights and irreverence Bowie brings to one of my all-time favorites.
• 
  Amber Drea

  Really fun, interesting, insightful read. Highly recommended if you love the movie "Heathers."
• 
  Mary

  Mega-navel gazing so far into a niche that it's hard to climb back out. It works and doesn't in equal measure. Still, I'm loving it.
• 
  Kate

  Razor blades and cyanide, why try it?
  Off a jagged cliff, in a raging tide
  Why try it?
• 
  Bridget

  I'd rather of learned more about the nittygritty of Heathers minutiae and less about the author's personal history with the movie but I'll bet most folks who read my book reviews feel the same way.