Why didn't she become a huge star?

This article will perhaps give up some insight (especially down in the comments section):
http://lebeauleblog.com/2011/06/23/what-the-hell-happened-to-alicia-si lverstone/

That blog entry was very insightful and as you say, the comments even moreso. From the comments, I found this (and agree wholeheartedly):

Pardon me if I’m repeating myself, but to sum things up towards why Alicia Silverstone didn’t have a much better career post-”Clueless”, I think it was a combination of:

*The the massive backlash of “Batman & Robin” combined w/ the lukewarm response of “Excess Baggage” in that same summer (which helped give people the idea that Alicia couldn’t really draw people to watch her in a movie).

*”Competition” so to speak from other actresses of her generation like Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore, and Kate Hudson.

*Alicia not being able or willing to reinvent herself as a more serious actress (and thus, help make people move past the ditzy, cute young blonde image that helped made her popular in the first place).

*Alicia disappearing from mainstream movies for the first portion of the 2000s. Granted, I don’t know if that was Alicia’s choice or it was forced on to her, but stuff like that either way, can’t help you stay relevant in the pop cultural zeitgeist or whatever you want to call it. It’s as if as soon as the ’90s ended, Alicia’s relevancy ended w/ it. In a way, if you ask me, she’s sort of the ’90s version of whatever Molly Ringwald was to the ’80s.

*Alicia’s kooky (at least in my personal view), alternative lifestyle choices like practically militant veganism and her trying to justify her now infamous bird-feeding video involving her son arguably being a bit of a turn off to much of Middle America.

I also feel that Alicia suffered from getting so much power when it was still relatively early in her career. It’s looking back, kind of odd that she got a three-picture, $10 million deal w/ Columbia off of the strength of just one movie (which in reality, was a modest success). That perhaps also, along w/ something like “Batman & Robin” and the mean-spirited gossip about her weight, gave people another reason to turn on her.

Basically, Alicia got Clueless ahead of Reese and many years later, Reese got Legally Blonde, which was originally designed w/ Alicia Silverstone in mind:
http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2012/03/four-for-friday-backstabber. html

This actress is A list through and through. She has achieved about the most success an actress can receive. Money, fame and awards. She wanted to be the world's sweetheart, but if they knew how she got to her lofty position they would be rethinking their judgment.

When Backstabber came to Hollywood she thought she was hot and that she could make it on her looks. Back home she was always the prettiest and she figured she would be here too. Nope. Not even close. She was smart enough to figure that out and also learned about the casting couch really quickly. Her first roles were secured via the casting couch and also led her to do some things she has never done since on film. It is true that she has attempted to buy some of those earlier films and then make sure no new copies are ever released.

In one of her casting couch experiences she met a mentor who has guided her almost every step of the way. Although they stopped sleeping together after six months when Backstabber threatened to tell his wife, they have been good friends ever since and Backstabber makes sure to send over some young actresses she runs into looking for a break to his office to keep him happy.

It came to Backstabber's attention that there was a role which would be perfect for her but the lead had been promised to someone else. Another actress who had very similar qualities and beat out Backstabber for a career defining role and made her white hot. Destined for A list (and still with great name recognition, but not Crash & Burn from yesterday), she made a few more movies and now has one bomb after another on television and in movies. Backstabber started whispering in ears that this actress had a drug problem and could not be relied on. She told everyone she could about the drugs and booze and erratic behavior. None of it was true, but what was a shoo in for the actress and her spot as the actress to watch disappeared in a flash and went to Backstabber.

http://lebeauleblog.com/2011/06/23/what-the-hell-happened-to-alicia-si lverstone/

Oh,please.
If anybody sabotaged ALicia's career it was Alicia herself,by making a long series of very bad script choices after "Clueless". Fact was she did have a big hit after Clueless.
I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something's That's Funny
Homer Simpson

If it counts, Batman & Robin, even though it's also generally considered to be the worst superhero movie ever made and the torch bearer to films that killed a franchise stone cold dead.

I wonder if she regretted not doing the Clueless TV series?




They think we're the demons now - Prue Halliwell ~ All Hell Breaks Loose ~ Charmed

Re: What Happened to Alicia Silverstone’s Career?

http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php?t=545037&page=2

#18

Much as I love Clueless, Alicia can’t act at all. I know people like to blame her weight for why she never went anywhere career-wise, but I honestly think part of her issue was because she had a stuffy team behind her.

#22

If Reese is the backstabber in the blind, the movie would be Cruel Intentions and not Legally Blonde since the former is where she met RP.

It would very well be her though, since lot of the stuff (except for the casting couch) is what I’ve been hearing from elsewhere.

I think Alicia’s career went down to drain due to a) bad choices (if you are not a white male you don’t get the same second chances); b) Hollywood didn’t really know what to do with a leading lady more suited for comedy; c) she has a limited range which didn’t help.

If she had been young during early noughties, she would have been pretty perfect for those Disney teen movies they made for girls (usually starring Duff or Lohan).

Anyways, Clueless still remains among my favorite comedies and I wish Hollywood still made movies like it and Mean Girls. So many movies coming out these days look so dull and have no good female roles that I rather watch my old favorites on DVD instead of going to cinema.

I’ll admit that after reading through Reese Witherspoon’s own What the Hell Happened to... entry on Lebeau's le Blog, I don’t entirely understand how exactly Reese “stole” Alicia’s career. Maybe part of it has to do w/ Reese’s character in “Legally Blonde” (the film that made her a star proper/household name for all intents and purposes), is arguably not that far removed from Alicia’s character in “Clueless”. Reese seems a bit more versatile than Alicia and had more on-screen experience leading up to “Legally Blonde” when compared to Alicia (who seemed to be doing all of these low-rent thriller movies like “The Crush”, “The Babysitter”, and “Hideaway”) and “Clueless”.

I think if anybody “stole” Alicia’s career it’s Drew Barrymore, who has a similar speaking style and mostly cutesy persona (besides being roughly the same age). Drew arguably wasn’t taken seriously as a leading actress in mainstream roles (for the first half of the ’90s it seemed like she was mostly in this phase where she wasn’t a precocious child star anymore so she preceded to “shatter” that on-screen image so to speak w/ considerably sleazy movie movies like “Poison Ivy”) until she showed up in “Scream”.