‘Clueless’ at 25: Watch director Amy Heckerling dish on the Ultimate Summer Movie Showdown

“Clueless” turned 25 this month. And the film remains a favorite of Times readers, who chose the romanic comedy as the Week 12 winner in the Ultimate Summer Movie Showdown.

Amy Heckerling, the writer and director of “Clueless,’’ will join film critic Justin Chang at 6 p.m. July 30 for a live video chat on the Los Angeles Times Classic Hollywood Facebook page. Or tune in on YouTube or Twitter.

The 1995 film is a contemporary update of Jane Austen’s “Emma” that features Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy and Paul Rudd. It opened July 19, 1995, to warm reviews and became one of the summer’s sleeper hits.

“‘Clueless’ is a movie whose cheeky one-liners (‘Ugh, as if!’), stars-in-the-making (Paul Rudd!) and brightly hued costumes (where to begin …) have taken on a pop-cultural life of their own,” Chang writes in a story with TV reporter Yvonne Villarreal. “It’s also partly due to Alicia Silverstone’s still-wonderful performance as Cher, the Beverly Hills-born Emma Woodhouse so perfectly and endearingly described by the title.”

Week 12 of the Ultimate Summer Movie Showdown on July 30, 2020 featured Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang and writer/director Amy Heckerling for the movie “Clueless.”

(Ken Kwok/Los Angeles Times)

The Ultimate Summer Movie Showdown is the L.A. Times series where each week readers vote on the greatest summer films of all time. Or at least since 1975, the year that “Jaws” forever changed the landscape of summer moviemaking.

To recap the rules: Each week Chang presents readers with a list of 16 movies from 1975 to 2019, all of which were released during a particular summer time frame. You may vote for your favorites on his Twitter account @justincchang. Each week’s polls are posted at 5 p.m. Pacific time Monday.

What’s next: Times readers chose “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” as the Week 13 winner after a final showdown with “Caddyshack.” Watch “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” on your own this coming week. Then join the Ultimate Summer Movie Showdown at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, for a livestreaming conversation with Director Christopher McQuarrie on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.