If you ask me, comedy crafter Amy Heckerling is among America's most underappreciated filmmakers. Not only is she the insightful writer-director behind such zeitgeist-capturing and influential features as Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless, but she is also one of the few female directors to have scored multiple box office hits, including the aforementioned coming-of-age comedies as well as European Vacation and Look Who's Talking.
Unfortunately, since her attempt to modernize the love story of Billy Wilder's classic comedy The Apartment for the Generation Y, painfully titled Loser, flopped at the theaters and was a miss with critics, Heckerling has had little luck. Her 2007 comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman, which starred Michelle Pfeiffer and reunited Clueless alums Paul Rudd and Stacey Dash, was a $24 million feature that banked less than $10 mil worldwide despite some critical acclaim.
This brings us to Heckerling's latest: Vamps, a spirited comedy that focuses on two New York party girls (Clueless star Alicia Silverstone and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23's Krysten Ritter) who also happen to be vampires. Since vampires have been all the rage for the last few years, they seem a great base for Heckerling's incisive and oft satirical sense of humor. You can get a taste of this colorful comedy below with its first trailer:
Though I realize it may be a turn-off for some, I find the gleefully cheesy tone embodied by Silverstone's bloody spit take, Ritter's awkward fake tan and Justin Kirk's clichéd Transylvanian accent endearing. Plus, this trailer shows off an enticing supporting cast that includes a seemingly madcap Malcolm McDowell, Clueless's Wallace Shawn, the always awesome Sigourney Weaver, and Dan Stevens best-known as Cousin Matthew Crawley of Downton Abbey as Ritter's open-minded mortal love interest. I mean, Vamps probably won't compare to Heckerling's classics, but for one thing: so few films do. And for another, it looks willfully wacky and so could be a totally enjoyable offering in its own right.
Vamps will hit select theaters November 2nd and a DVD and Blu-ray release will follow soon after on November 13th.
