They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The main reaction to Dear You upon its release in 1995, due to the slicker production and Blake singing much more smoothly in comparison to the previous three Jawbreaker records.
Vindicated by History: As mentioned above, Dear You wasn't received very warmly during its original release for a few reasons; however, fans started reconsidering their views of it after Jawbreaker broke up. When Adam Pfahler re-released it in 2004 after successfully licensing the publishing rights from Geffen Records, the response was much more positive all-around.
The movie:
Awesome Music: Take your pick. Imperial Teen's "Yoo Hoo", Veruca Salt's "Volcano Girls", Letters to Cleo's "I See", Transister's "Flow", Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane"...
Catharsis Factor: Courtney being exposed at the prom, everyone turning on her, including the Jerk Jock leaving her on stage by herself, followed by some good old Produce Pelting. Julie's kiss and "eat shit" is the icing on the cake.
Esoteric Happy Ending: Sure, Courtney is exposed for her crimes at the end of the film, but this trope and What Happened to the Mouse? sets in when you realize Julie and Marcie will surely be charged as accessories for Liz’s death and helping Courtney move the body. This seems to be deliberate, as Rose McGowan states that the movie was intentionally nihilistic.
Foe Yay Shipping: The more Courtney pisses off Fern and Julie the more they seem to like getting up in her face, and in one confrontation Courtney says the experience is turning her on. Keep in mind that by 'getting up in her face', the scenes are typically one of the girls being shoved into a mirror or wall by the other, who flirtatiously responds, causing the other to be struck dumb by response. 'Pretty little Courtney', indeed.
Rose McGowan staging a killing to look like a rape becomes this given that she, herself, had been raped by Harvey Weinstein. And how her character ostracises anyone who challenges her - namely Julie and Fern - considering she was blacklisted by Weinstein as a result.
Likewise, it becomes difficult not to see parallels between Rebecca Gayheart's involvement in a case of manslaughter in the movie and one in real life just two years later.
Marilyn Manson's cameo as the man who supposedly raped Liz becomes this given the abuse allegations made against him by Evan Rachel Wood, among others.
Hilarious in Hindsight: William Katt and PJ Soles cameo as Liz's parents in a nod to Carrie (1976), with Word of God also saying that the casting of twentysomethings who look too old to be teenagers are nods to Carrie and also Grease. Judy Greer would later play Miss Desjardin in the 2013 remake.
Hollywood Homely: Proven by her in-story transformation, all that made Judy Greer a.k.a. Fern/Vylette ugly was hair that needed some grooming and some non-flattering clothes.
Just Here for Godzilla: The costumes are considered a huge draw of the movie by some viewers, even getting spotlighted for their appeal in Vogue and Rookie.
Les Yay: Fern/Vylette really comes off as a Stalker with a Crush towards Liz Purr. She obsesses over her, describes her as perfection and spends all her class time gazing at the beauty marks on the back of Liz's neck.
LGBT Fanbase: Directed by the openly gay Darren Stein, with a smorgasbord of Homoerotic Subtext between the main characters, and an intentional Camp aesthetic, you bet the movie has a sizable queer fan base.
Love to Hate: Courtney is a shit-tier human being, but she gets the best lines and is so entertainingly evil that she's beloved as a character. Rose McGowan got an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Villain.
Moral Event Horizon: While Courtney wasn't even remotely sympathetic, her murder of Liz was at least accidental. But she leaps over it when she picks up a random guy, has sex with him in Liz's bed and frames him for the murder, as well as getting him falsely branded a rapist.
Older Than They Think: A slow-motion scene of the popular girls walking down the school hallway is more commonly associated with Mean Girls, but fans of this like to point out that Jawbreaker did it first. The Craft also featured a similar shot, though the girls were outcasts and walking outside.
Marilyn Manson himself makes a cameo as the creep that Courtney seduces and hooks up with in Liz's bed. Of course it probably helped that he and Rose McGowan were dating at the time of filming.
Queer Show Ghetto: Darren Stein deliberately inserted queer subtext into the story, and theorises that made it off-putting to heterosexual critics. Audiences however were a different story.
While Julie Benz had already appeared as Darla in two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she'd feature more prominently in the Angel spin-off, and later become more famous for Dexter.
Courtney making Dane simulate fellatio with an ice pop is the scene Darren Stein has said he gets asked about the most.
Closely followed by Courtney, Julie and Marcie walking down the hallway in slow motion as Imperial Teen's "Yoo-Hoo" plays.
Vindicated by History: Considered a flop on its release, and reviewed poorly by critics, it amassed a cult following through home video rentals and is seen in a much more favourable light now; even been listed as "a teen classic" in a 2016 article by Vogue magazine.
WTH, Costuming Department?: While it can be impossible to predict how fashion will evolve in the years to come, it's rather amusing that Fern's makeover to become popular and desirable involves getting a hairstyle that would be derisively called the 'Karen haircut'; associated with snobby, entitled middle-aged women.
