Movie: Never Been Kissed
Rating: PG13
Romantic Comedy
Starring: Drew Barrymore
David Arquette
Molly Shannon
Director: Raja Gosnell
Writer: Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein
Producer: Sandy Isaac
Drew Barrymore
Nancy Juvonen
79% Rating
Josie Gellar is a bright, happy, 25 year old editor for the
Chicago Sun Times. Nevertheless, she wants to be a reporter.
When it comes to her job, she's unbeatable. But when it comes
to highschool, well, she's no pro. In fact, it's
worse-- she's a brainy nerd who everyone called "Josie-Grossie."
As a result, she's never been kissed.
But highschool eight years ago was slightly different
than the teenagers of today, and when Josie Gellar gets the
assignment of going undercover to get the inside stories on
highschool, she begins an adventure through which she
re-experiences the greatness-- and horror of her adolescant years.
To be perfectly honest, I'm actually kind of excited to
see this flick. While it looks a little too much like
the gazillion other teen comedies we've seen this year,
it has an interesting twist that looks appealing. From
Drew's latest films, (Ever After, Home Fries, etc.) she
hasn't exactly had a break-through comedy since the
Wedding Singer. Will this be it? I think it really has
the potential. Only.. can she pull it off? Can't wait
to find out! It opens April 9th!
After viewing (the review): The film Never Been Kissed is
actually a pleasant surprise at the capabilities of
Drew Barrymore. While her co-stars were acceptable and
got the job done, Drew Barrymore was more than amazing
in her portrayal of Josie Gellar. It was definately an
incredible job! In this film, I have to hand it to both
Drew Barrymore and David Arquette for two breathtaking
preformances. While Arquette really did a thorough job
on his role as Josie's brother Rob, he wasn't the one
who carried the movie. It was more than obvious that the
movie was pushed along by the superb preformance by
Drew Barrymore.
However, while I more than commend Drew's acting, I must
also condemn the monotonuity of the story's plot. While
the writer executed every aspect of the plot well, we've
seen it WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY too many times.
We have a dork, she goes to a party, things happen, she
no longer has dork status, goes through a transformation,
is up for prom queen, goes to prom, some miracle thing
happens at prom, the final scene happens, the two lovers
kiss, yadda yadda yadda. What I also found odd in this
movie, was that it seemed unbalanced. One minute, it's
serious, the next minute, it's like a SNL sketch. I also
got annoyed by the fact that ALL of the popular kids were
mean (minus Rob but he can't be since he's the brother),
and all the dorks are nice. I'm sorry but that calculator
scene was atrocious! Dorks aren't REALLY like that. This
movie, I feel, exhagerated those sterio-types WAY too much.
Again, it was unbalanced. In She's All That, it was differnt.
We had nice dorks, stupid dorks, nice popular kids, and
pigs.
I also think that this film was the opposite of an oreo
cookie. In fact, it's the cookie with spinich instead of
cream. The two ends of the film were so beautifully done
that when the average viewer walks out of the theatre, they
completely forget about some things that were only so-so
in the middle. The ending was incredibly high class and
original. The beginning was great in establishing the
roles, etc. However, the middle got a little annoying
at times, for instance, when the entire class gets mad
because of the prom's theme. In real life, most kids
really don't care THAT much about the prom. It's really
not that big a deal. Nevertheless, I STILL must commend
Drew's acting!
Every Josie Grossie scene in the movie was beautifully
done. Likewise, Josie Gellar shined in every single
scene! Just the way that she acted, and made her-self
look like such a social shy dork was awesome. The audience
actually cared about her character, and reacted with her.
Also, the magnitude of her innocence was portrayed very
stylishly. With lines like "I was SO kewl!" The audience
couldn't help but cheer her on! The brother too, did a
superb job in actually portraying the behavior of.. a
brother. So often, we get these cheesy brothers who are
so corny and unreal. But with Arquette's Rob, we feel
as if he's an actualy brother with lines like "Do you
remember what they called you in highschool? (Drew: Josie
Grossie..) Yeah and I know that I made it up, but I didn't
think it'd stick like that..."
Overall, Never Been Kissed is worth it. While the romance
it-self is a tad bit week, it's not so much about the
romance it-self, but about a bright young woman finally
letting go of her terrible high-school experiences and
getting some self-confindence and courage.
