Never Been Kissed

USA 1999

Reviewed by John Wrathall

Synopsis

Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.

Josie Geller, a straitlaced 25-year-old copy editor on the Chicago Sun-Times, gets her big break as a reporter when she is commissioned to write an undercover exposé on life in high school. Posing as a teenager, she enrols at South Glen South, where her attraction to class heart-throb Guy reawakens memories of humiliation during her real schooldays, when her dream prom date pelted her with eggs. Since that trauma she has never had a boyfriend or been "properly" kissed.

Befriended by brainy girl Aldys, Josie joins the school maths club and flirts with English teacher Sam Coulson. But her editor Gus demands she get in with the cool crowd. To help her out, Josie's brother Rob, a former high-school baseball star turned slacker, enrols at the school too and spreads juicy rumours which convince everyone Josie is cool. Guy asks her to the prom. However, the attraction between Josie and Sam is growing; Gus demands she concentrate on writing an exposé of teacher/pupil relationships.

At the prom, Josie is voted queen, but she blows her cover to save Aldys from having dog food tipped over her. As a result, Sam realises he has been set up, and Josie's story is scooped by a rival paper. Her planned exposé scrapped, Josie instead writes a soul-baring article in which she apologises to Sam and announces she will wait for him to come and kiss her at the school baseball game that night. The article is a huge success. At the game, Josie is cheered by the crowd, and when Sam eventually shows up they kiss. Rob, having rediscovered his passion for baseball, gets a job coaching the school team.

Review

With its mature protagonist returning to high school to relive character-forming experiences, Never Been Kissed has obvious credentials as a teen-nostalgia movie. The flashbacks to Josie's actual high-school days feature caricatured 80s fashions and provide the excuse for 'period' songs on the soundtrack, a vein of 80s nostalgia which Drew Barrymore previously exploited in her biggest hit to date, The Wedding Singer.

Less predictably, Never Been Kissed also functions as a teen-movie-nostalgia movie. Director Raja Gosnell is an alumnus of the John Hughes school of film-making, having made his name as editor of the first two instalments and director of the third in the massively successful Hughes-produced Home Alone franchise. Though there's an early gag involving the metal detector at the school entrance, the student body is conspicuously free of the gun-toting homeboys of the 90s high-school movie. Instead, it's populated by the same archetypes (brainy nerds, bitchy glamour queens, good-hearted free spirit with wacky dress sense) as any John Hughes high school circa 1984. Wearing a white shirt and shades without trousers, Josie's brother Rob (the cool, crazy one, in Hughes terms) even comes to the (present-day) fancy-dress prom as Tom Cruise in Risky Business (not a Hughes film, but a Bratpack milestone).

Cannily, Rob is played by David Arquette, best known for Scream, the 90s dark mirror to the 80s high-school movie. Covering all bases, the film also pays lip-service to the current post-Clueless teen-movie craze: high-school versions of the classics (see 10 Things I Hate about You; Cruel Intentions; the forthcoming O). Although Never Been Kissed isn't by any means a direct reworking of As You Like It (the play which Sam teaches in his English class), the love story between Sam and the 'disguised' Josie chimes in with the disguise theme of Shakespeare's comedy.

Tailor-made for Drew Barrymore by her own company Flower Films, Never Been Kissed displays a commendable willingness on the star's part to appear mousy and dumpy, so that Josie's eventual ugly-duckling-to-swan transformation carries some conviction. There's a neat visual gag early on when the camera, closing in on a crowd of commuters, picks out the expected glamorous blonde, only to swerve aside at the last minute and settle on the real, plump brunette Barrymore. (The positive appeal of Barrymore's chubbiness is pointed up by a catty joke at the expense of the trio of diet-crazed school beauties who finally decide to be nice to Josie due to a rumour she is the heir to the Ex-Lax fortune.)

The script efficiently contrives a spiral of dilemmas and challenges to bring about Josie's ultimate blossoming. The only drawback of such an expertly manufactured package, however, is the way it glosses over any riskier business thrown up along the way. Josie's parallel love affairs, with Guy and Sam, are both in some sense transgressive: in one case, 25-year-old woman with teenage boy; in the other, male teacher with pupil (whom he believes to be underage).

A less determinedly feelgood film might have made more of this imbroglio. As it is, at least it throws up one choice one-liner, from Rob to Josie at the teen party where both are on the verge of copping off with underage partners: "See you around the cell block, Mrs Robinson."

Credits

Producers
Sandy Isaac
Nancy Juvonen
Screenplay
Abby Kohn
Marc Silverstein
Director of Photography
Alex Nepomniaschy
Editors
Debbie Chiate
Marcelo Sansevieri
Production Designer
Steven Jordan
Music
David Newman
©Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Production Companies
Fox 2000 Pictures presents a Flower Films/Bushwood Pictures production
Executive Producer
Drew Barrymore
Co-producer
Jeffrey Downer
Production Supervisor
Jack L. Murray
Production Co-ordinator
Mitchell Bell
Unit Production Manager
Jeffrey Downer
Location Managers
Brian O. Haynes
Betsy Bottando
Assistant Directors
Richard Graves
Susan J. Hellmann
Brad Morris
Script Supervisor
Benita Brazier
Casting
Justine Baddeley
Kim Davis
Voice:
Loop De Loop
Camera Operators
Michael Stone
Arnie Sirlin
Visual Effects
Supervisor:
Rich Thorne
Producer:
Sharon Holly
Digital Visual Effects
Blue Sky/VIFX
Visual Effects Supervisor:
John C. Wash
Visual Effects Producer:
Josh R. Jaggars
Visual Effects Co-ordinator:
Carey Smith
2D Supervisor:
Hoiyue 'Harry' Lam
2D Digital Artists:
Jennifer Howard
Garrett K. Lam
Mike Roby
Digital Painting:
Meg Freeman
3D Animator:
Matt Hausman
Digital Scanning/ Additional Visual Effects
Digital FilmWorks Inc
Video Displays
E=mc2
Video Supervisor:
Bob Morgenroth
Video Co-ordinator:
Brett Cody
Special Effects Co-ordinator
John Hartigan
Special Effects
Chris Walkowiak
Art Director
William Hiney
Set Designer
Susan E. Lomino
Set Decorator
Suzette Sheets
Storyboard Artist
Darryl Henley
Costume Designer
Mona May
Costume Supervisor
Perri Kimono
Make-up
Key Artist:
Kimberly Greene
Artists:
Lyssa Wittlin Baumert
Joni Powell
Key Hair Stylist
Barbara Olvera
Main/End Title Sequences Design
Robert Dawson
Digital Main/End Title Cards
Digiscope
End Credits
Scarlet Letters
Cinema Research Corporation
Opticals
Pacific Title/Mirage
Score Orchestrations
Xandy Janko
Music Supervisors
Mary Ramos-Oden
Michele Kuznetsky
Music Editor
Tom Villano
Score Recordist/Mixer
John Kurlander
Synthesizer Programming
Marty Frasu
Scoring Stage Recordist
John Rodd
Scoring Stage Engineer
Dennis Sager
Scoring Consultant
Krystyna Newman
Marching Band Consultant
Terry Sakow
Soundtrack
"Catch a Falling Star" by Paul Vance, Lee Pockriss, performed by Block; "Lucky Denver Mint", "Seventeen (Demo)" by/performed by Jimmy Eat World; "Watching the Wheels" by/performed by John Lennon; "She Bop" by Cyndi Lauper, Rick Chertoff, Stephen Lunt, Gary Corbett, performed by Cyndi Lauper; "Suburban Life" by André Williams, Keith Williams, Dustin Miller, Steve Thronson, Brad Xavier, performed by Kottonmouth Kings; "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" by Nick Eede, performed by Cutting Crew; "Cool Magnet" by Joseph W. Daniels, David Scott Lucas, performed by Local H; "Smash" by Heather Grody, Leisha Hailey, Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin, performed by The Murmurs; "Girls Move Their Butts" by Grandmaster Slice, David Martin, performed by Grandmaster Slice; "A Girl Named Happiness (Never Been Kissed)" by Jeremy Jordan, Chuck Luongo, performed by Jeremy Jordan; "Uncle Bill's Ride" by John Kay, Rushton Moreve, performed by Mister Jones; "The Simpsons Theme" by Danny Elfman; "Three Is a Magic Number" by Bob Dorough, performed by Blind Melon; "Heartbreaker" by Geoff Gill, Cliff Wade, performed by Pat Benatar; "Free to Be You and Me" by Stephen Lawrence, Bruce Hart, performed by The New Seekers; "Problem" by Jeffrey Cain Thompson, Gregory Slay, August Cinjun Tate, Shelby Tate, Cederic Lemoyne, performed by Remy Zero; "Here We Go" by Johan B. Renck, Jonas Von Der Burg, performed by Stakka Bo; "Cumbia de los muertos" by Asdrubal Sierra, Chali 2na, Wil Dog, Raul Pacheco, Ulises Bella, Jose Espinosa, Justin Porée, William Marrufo, Jiro Yamaguchi, Cut Chemist, performed by Ozomatli; "Cut Chemist Suite" by Chali 2na, Cut Chemist, Ulises Bella, Wil Dog, Jose Espinosa, William Marrufo, Raul Pacheco, Justin Porée, Asdrubal Sierra, Jiro Yamaguchi, Alfredo Ortiz, Pablo Castorena, performed by Ozomatli; "Me, Myself and I" by Edwin Birdsong, Paul Huston, David J. Jolicoeur, Vincent Mason, Kelvin Mercer, George Clinton III, Philippe Wynn, performed by De La Soul; "Like a Prayer" by Madonna Ciccone, Patrick Leonard, performed by Madonna; "Standing By" by Tim Seely, performed by Willis; "Barrel Organ" by/performed by David Farnon; "Go Daddy O" by Scotty Morris, performed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy; "Heaven Tonight" by Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, performed by Hole; "Peppy Rock" by/performed by BTK; "Never You Mind" by Dan Wilson, Jacob Slichter, performed by Semisonic; "At My Most Beautiful" by Peter Buck, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, performed by R.E.M.; "Nowhere Slow" by Adam Lohrbach, performed by Homegrown; "Bitter" by Todd Eckhardt, Steve Jackson, Tim Goodin, performed by The Pietasters; "Candy in the Sun" by Denny Scott, Austin Hanks, Mark Hudson, Steve Greenberg, performed by Swirl 360; "Riot Nrrrd" by Joel Johnson, Noah Green, Edward Cisneros, Andrew Markham, Stephen Light, John Moraski III, performed by 2 Skinnee J's; "Look Who's Perfect Now" by Gary Clark, Eric Pressley, Keely Hawkes, performed by Transister; "Erase/Rewind" by Nina Persson, Peter Svensson, performed by The Cardigans; "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" by John Marr, Steven Morrissey, performed by The Smiths; "Stay" by Jonathan Mead, Chris Hower, Bobby Stefano, Kane McGee, performed by Radford; "Closer to Myself" by Ron Aniello, Kendall Payne, performed by Kendall Payne; "Don't Worry Baby" by Brian Wilson, Roger Christian, performed by The Beach Boys; "Innocent Journey" by Chris Karn, performed by Sonichrome; "Until You Loved Me" by Phil Thornalley, Dave Munday, performed by The Moffatts
Choreography
Marguerite Derricks
Sound Mixer
Keith A. Wester
Re-recording Sound Mixers
Paul Massey
D.M. Hemphill
Jim Bolt
Supervising Sound Editor
Michael D. Wilhoit
Dialogue Editors
Vanessa Lapato
R.J. Kizer
Sound Effects Editors
Hector C. Gika
Suhail Kafity
ADR
Recordist:
Dave Lucarelli
Mixer:
Charleen Richards
Supervising Editor:
Kelly L. Oxford
Editor:
Donald Sylvester
Foley
Artists:
Alicia Stephenson
Dawn Fintor
Recordist:
Carrie Cashman
Mixer:
Dave Betancourt
Editors:
Ted Caplan
Chris Flick
Stunt Co-ordinator
Joni Avery
Cast
Drew Barrymore
Josie Geller
David Arquette
Rob Geller
Michael Vartan
Sam Coulson
Molly Shannon
Anita
John C. Reilly
Gus
Garry Marshall
Rigfort
Sean Whalen
Merkin
Cress Williams
George
Octavia L. Spencer
Cynthia
Sarah DeVincentis
Rhoda
Allen Covert
Roger in Op/Ed
Rock Reiser
Dutton
David Doty
Hairplug Bruns
Derrick Morgan
Armcast Henson
Kathleen Marshall
Sun-Times worker
Jenny Bicks
Miss Haskell
LeeLee Sobieski
Aldys
Jeremy Jordan
Guy Perkins
Jessica Alba
Kirsten
Marley Shelton
Kristin
Jordan Ladd
Gibby
Katie Lansdale
Tracy
Branden Williams
Tommy
James Edward Franco
Jason
Gregory Sporleder
Coach Romano
Martha Hackett
Mrs Knox
Jennifer Parsons
PE teacher
Andrew Wilson
school guard
Giuseppe Andrews
denominator
Alex Solowitz
Brett
Niesha Trout
Sera
Chad Christian Haywood
Matz
Cory Hardrict
Packer
Chad Todhunter
Stoner 1
Daniel Louis Rivas
Stoner 2
Mark Edwards
school guard 2
Denny Kirkwood
Billy Prince
Marissa Jaret Winokur
Sheila
Carmen Llywellyn
Rob's girlfriend
Sara Downing
Billy's prom date
Mike G. Moyer
Monty Malik
Steven Wilde
bouncer
Maya McLaughlin
Lara
David Douglas
Rasta
Russell Bobbitt
Carny
Tara Skye
Tyke
Mark Allen
DJ
Conor O'Neil
Gibby's prom date
Joe Ochman
Don Snell
prom judges
Jason Weissbrod
Big Bad Wolf
Tinsley Grimes
Little Red Riding Hood
Joshua Fitzgerald
Tarzan
Amanda Wilmshurst
fruit headdress woman
Willy Abers
Ulises Bella
Jose Espinosa
Lucas MacFadden
William Marrufo
Raul Pacheco
Justin Porée
Asdru Sierra
Charles Stewart
Jiro Yamaguchi
Ozomatli band members
Certificate
12
Distributor
20th Century Fox (UK)
9,657 feet
107 minutes 18 seconds
Dolby
Colour by
DeLuxe
Anamorphic [Panavision]
Last Updated: 20 Dec 2011