<P> Clueless is a 1995 American coming - of - age romantic comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling . It stars Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Paul Rudd and Brittany Murphy, and was produced by Scott Rudin and Robert Lawrence . It is loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma, updating the setting to modern - day Beverly Hills . The film's director, Heckerling studied real Beverly Hills high school students to get the lingo and feel for how real teens in the 1990s talked . The famous quote "as if!" came from Heckerling's study of these teens . </P> <P> The film grossed $56 million in the United States, received generally positive reviews from critics, and has developed a cult following . The film was followed by a spin - off television sitcom and series of books . </P> <P> Cheryl "Cher" Horowitz is a well - intentioned but superficial girl, who is attractive, popular and extremely wealthy . A few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, she has risen to the top of the high school social scene . She lives in a Beverly Hills mansion with her father Mel, a ferocious $500 - an - hour litigator; her mother died from a freak accident during a routine liposuction procedure when Cher was a baby . Cher's best friend is Dionne Davenport, who is also rich, pretty, and hip, and understands what it's like to be envied . Though Dionne has a long - term relationship with popular student Murray, Cher claims that this is a pointless endeavor on Dionne's part . </P> <P> Among the few people to find fault with Cher is Josh, her socially conscious ex-stepbrother, who visits her during a break from college . Josh and Cher spar continually but without animosity; she mocks his scruffy idealism, while he teases her for being selfish, vain, and superficial, and says that her only direction in life is "toward the mall". Cher plays matchmaker for two lonely, nerdy, hard - grading teachers, Mr. Hall and Miss Geist . She achieves her superficial purpose, to make them relax their grading standards so she can renegotiate a bad report card; but when she sees their newfound happiness, she realizes she enjoys doing good deeds . Cher decides to give back to the community by "adopting" a "tragically unhip" new girl at school, Tai Frasier . Cher and Dionne give Tai a makeover and initiate her into the mysteries of popularity . Cher also tries to extinguish the attraction between Tai and Travis Birkenstock, an amiable skateboarding slacker, and to steer her toward Elton, a popular rich snob . </P>

The main character in clueless was named after which famous superstar