NEVER BEEN KISSED
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1999 Christopher Null
filmcritic.com
Wow. It's only April, and I've already been to *three* proms this year.
They are: SHE'S ALL THAT, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, and now, NEVER BEEN KISSED. All treading some familiar ground: high school sucks.
Maybe I can relate, and NEVER BEEN KISSED is certainly the best of three, but really, if I have to sit through this story line one more time, well, I'm liable to spike the punch the next time out, just to see what happens.
KISSED starts pretty incredulously: we are supposed to believe that Drew Barrymore is a copy editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. No, that's not the stretch: The jaw-dropper is that she has both an office *and* an assistant! If you're not in the publishing biz, let me say that that's about as crazy as Drew Barrymore being the executive producer of a feature film. (Uh, wait a second.)
So here we have a lovable, 25 year-old, copy-editing virgin named Josie (Barrymore), who is sent--"undercover"--back to high school in order to get the hot story about today's youth. Sadly, Josie is a big-ass loser whose personal freakshow is the best story going. She's alienated by the cool crowd, and only when her genuinely cool (but dim) brother (Arquette) comes to the rescue, is she able to become Miss Popular (and prom queen to boot). Never mind also dropping 20 pounds and getting a decent haircut and some fashion sense.
There's also a subplot about Josie's somewhat creepy would-be-affair with teacher Sam (Vartan), but ultimately it's KISSED's frequent, unapologetic jokes and good-natured fun that redeem it above its competition. It may be the same old story, but at least it isn't completely mindless.
Stay tuned for the sequel: BEEN KISSED ONCE.
RATING: ***1/2
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Raja Gosnell Producer: Mark Silverstein, Sandy Isaac Writer: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein Starring: Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Michael Vartan, Molly Shannon, Leelee Sobieski
http://www.foxmovies.com/neverbeenkissed/
Christopher Null - null@sirius.com - http://www.filmcritic.com - Buy my book! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0078825881/filmcriticcom/002-2549101-0837427
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