NEVER BEEN KISSED RATING: 6 / 10 --> Barely recommendable
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Have you ever wanted to go back to high school and try to relive some of the moments that you missed, knowing all of the things that you know now? Well, Drew Barrymore gets that opportunity in this teenage flick that continues to propagate Hollywood's love affair with all things young, beautiful and teen-oriented.
PLOT: Rookie newspaper reporter is placed undercover in a high school to write an article about the "kids of today". Having been a major nerd in her high school days, Josie (Barrymore) tries to adapt to the hip, young kids, but finds the transition just as painful as it was in her original days.
CRITIQUE: Generic, unoriginal, mildly amusing comedy, offers very little in laugh-out loud humor, but does give us several dynamic performances, and some surprisingly tender moments. Granted, there are only a handful of films coming out nowadays that offer much in original thought (RAVENOUS (7.5/10) is one of the few that plops right into my head), but a few wise-cracks about Archie, Betty and Veronica, do not a hip and unique script make. Fortunately for this film, it doesn't bore us, isn't too long, and it does give us a somewhat original ending, with a countdown conclusion that is definitely unique. Garry Marshall was also very funny in all of his scenes, but regrettably, he's only in a few of them. David Arquette also steals some thunder in his role as the older brother, and Molly Shannon has at least one interesting sequence in a classroom.
Kudos go to Drew Barrymore for allowing herself to look this bad for this movie (Except in the prom scene, in which she looks absolutely stunning in that medieval dress). She is the ultimate geek, but I found her character to be a little too unbelievable and dorky. It seemed like she was made to be the ultimate loser, but I didn't buy it. I also didn't appreciate any of the other "geeks" and "hipsters" in her high school, because they were all drawn out of the same one-dimensional chalkboard that all of these teenage movies seem to manufacture. And this is despite Leelee Sobieski's solid performance as the head-geek. Add an upbeat soundtrack, a good-looking Luke Perry-wannabee teacher by the way of newcomer Michael Vartan, and you've got yourself another teenage high school movie of the week, with a sweet ending, forgettable characters, and what seemed like more drama than laughs. Your video machine will appreciate it, but your hard-earned bucks at the movie theatre will not. Oh yeah, and if anyone in Hollywood is listening, I think it's time to start slowing down the teen-flick machine. Me thinks it's starting to bubble over.
NOTE: One thing that was truly original about this movie was its closing credits. Alongside all of the names of the folks in the film, a high school picture of their days of young. Cute, if you dig that kind of thing.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Actress Drew Barrymore also served as the executive producer of this film. Flower Films is her production company. Her middle name is Blythe and she is godmother to Courtney Love's daughter Frances Bean. When not acting, actor David Arquette performs with his band Ear 2000. Their song "The Race" is featured on the SCREAM 2 (7/10) soundtrack. He is currently engaged to actress Courtney Cox. Actor Michael Vartan was born in Paris to a French father and an American mother. He grew up in the tiny Normandy village of Fleury (pop. 300) until the age of 18 when he moved to Los Angeles to live with his mother. Soon thereafter, he enrolled in acting classes and started working both here and in France. He speaks both English and French fluently. Garry Marshall, who plays Barrymore's boss in this film, is a film director in his own right. His credits include PRETTY WOMAN (7.5/10), FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (8/10) and THE FLAMINGO KID. His most recent effort was THE OTHER SISTER starring Juliette Lewis. Director Raja Gosnell's first shot at directing was the third installment of the HOME ALONE series, after working as a film editor for over fifteen years, editing both previous HOME ALONE movies. This is the first full-length screenplay for writers Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein. They came up with the premise for this movie while attending the Master's Program at the USC School of Cinema-Television.
Review Date: April 2, 1999
Director: Raja Gosnell
Writers: Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein
Producers: Sandy Isaac and Nancy Juvonen
Actors: Drew Barrymore as Josie Geller
David Arquette as Rob Geller
Michael Vartan as Teacher
Genre: Comedy
Year of Release: 1999
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