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Reel World: Hair High
'Hair High' revels in the grotesque
By Adam Goldstein
goldstea@mscd.edu

Courtesy of Pymptoons Hair High 78 minutes Not rated Opens Feb. 9 at Starz FilmCenter

Any film that delves into the drama of high-school social hierarchy runs the risk of falling into the realm of tired cliché. Though Hair High relates the familiar struggle between a nerd and his athletic oppressor, animator and director Bill Plympton neatly avoids the stereotypical treatment of teenage angst with healthy doses of cartoon gore, surreal aesthetics and fantastical plot twists.

Plympton translates his talents for the tasteless into the feature-length forum and turns a sappy, high-school motif into an exercise in bad taste and visual potty gags.

The result is an eerie amalgamation of conflicting aesthetics. Hair High is equal parts James Dean and Bill Hicks in its greaser appeal and iconoclastic spirit, while its simple design stands as a nightmarish fusion of Ralph Steadman and Francisco Goya. The animation plays on its inherent abilities to warp the visual world, exaggerating the characters’ features and focusing on graphic violence to a degree that is almost satirical.

Long a hero in the underground cartoon scene, Plympton’s visual style relies on choppy animation and bodily sight gags to deliver its discomfiting effects. Whether animating nose hair growth gone awry or the fatal aftermath of simultaneous bodily excretions, Plympton’s brightly penciled sketches have gained a reputation for their gritty and grotesque appeal.

Plympton’s taste for the bizarre and nauseating suffuses his tale of two star-crossed teen lovers. Although the plot begins in a familiar fashion, Plympton skews the story and setting to suit his unorthodox and unsavory style.

Rod, voiced by Dermot Mulroney, is a muscle-bound Neanderthal who rules the social hierarchy of an anonymous high school (his impressively voluminous pompadour lends the film its title). He is dating Cherri, monotonously voiced by Sarah Silverman, who is the captain of the cheerleading squad and a vapid, vacuous teen queen whose flawless hair and pouting lips are the envy of the school. When a socially inept stranger named Spud enters their realm, he starts as the brunt of their jokes and derision, but ends up challenging the alpha male for Cherri’s favor.

When Spud, played by Eric Gilliland, transforms from pitiable nerd to the love of Cherri’s life, Rod seeks bloody revenge. Plympton turns this story of teenage affection into a tragedy macabre when the cuckolded athlete turns toward murder to exact his vengeance.

The unorthodox resolution of this very orthodox plot is what distinguishes Plympton’s teenage drama from Sixteen Candles and Can’t Buy Me Love. While plenty of teen movies feature the social metamorphosis of a nerd, Plympton successfully adds zombies and a 1950s rockabilly feeling to the mix.

Though the real dynamics of the film rest on Plympton’s animation, a diverse cast helps to flesh out the film’s deadpan satire. In addition to the three principal characters, Plympton’s high-school setting is peopled by an array of beautifully drawn and well voiced characters. Matt Groening, Ed Begley Jr., David Carradine, Martha Plimpton and Beverly D’Angelo round out the cast.

At 78 minutes, Hair High runs out of gas at times, as it tends to rely too heavily on bloody sight gags and drawn-out visual motifs. Still, Plympton’s unique style sustains the movie even at its dull moments.

Hair High achieves an innovative and unparalleled fusion between the teen drama and the underground cartoon, imbuing the awkward feeling of high school with a bloody appeal straight out of Evil Dead.