Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely the worst movie.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Josie and the Pussycats (2001): Dir: Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan / Cast: Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Alan Cumming, Parker Posey: One of those numb founded ideas that dares viewers to remain until the end. The Pussycats are a girl band used to brainwash people in a scheme by Alan Cumming as a record producer. This all leads up to a pathetic fight sequence with an impersonator making an ass of himself. It is amazing that it took two directors to put this crap together. Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont previously directed the teen bore Can't Hardly Wait. They prove to great measures that if one director can make films as stupid as Head Over Heels and The Adventures of Joe Dirt, then two directors should be capable of bigger embarrassments. Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson play the trio of morons in the band. They are the reason special education classes were invented. Cumming is capable of much better and should have known better. Parker Posey also shows up in this garbage because her career wasn't far enough in the crapper yet. This is the kind of film one leaves out in the sun just to see whether it will be damaged. After all, it wouldn't put anyone out of anything of worth. The only area of compliment is its reference to pop culture but the film is cheesy and foolishly idiotic with a band that makes more noise than music. Score: 1 / 10

What an awesome movie. I suppose I would have to categorize this under guilty pleasure since it seems to not get much love. The rating on IMDb is wrong on a level I can't wrap my head around. This is one of those movies a lot of people, particularly guys, will look at and dismiss it just by its concept. Well, it's their loss as they're missing out on a very fun and funny movie. I'm a straight guy and I enjoy this movie on the face of it. Not for camp value or any other backhanded compliments. This is a well-produced musical comedy with great songs and some biting satire of the music industry and commercialization. The actors are all good and seem to be having a blast. The three leads are especially fun. One of Tara Reid's better movies, with some early Rosario Dawson and "She's All That" herself, Rachel Leigh Cook, both of whom I always like.I've been a big fan of this movie since it was first released. The music is upbeat and catchy. Way better than the average music written specifically for a fictional band or artist in movies. I played the soundtrack to death back in the day and still listen to it when I need a pick-me-up today. It's not just the Pussycats songs that I like but also the parody songs from the boy band Du Jour. I think in years to come Josie and the Pussycats will become a cult favorite. It's too good to go ignored forever. I really hope history vindicates what I consider to be one of the best comedies that came out in the 2000s.

This is a parody of the music business based on the comic books. Evil record label Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming) and Fiona (Parker Posey) are putting subliminal commercial messages in with the music of boy band DuJour. When the guys find out, Wyatt literally dumps them in mid air. He quickly signs Josie and the Pussycats (Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, Tara Reid) to replace the lost boy band.The three girls have great chemistry. Rachael Leigh Cook is crazy cute. Rosario Dawson is the edgy sexpot. Tara Reid is the ditzy airhead. Alan Cumming is great as the villain with a wink and a nod. Add to it, they have a couple of catchy tunes. And the movie is actually sending a message... not so subliminally.The boyfriend could be less bland. And quite frankly, writer/director team Deborah Kaplan/Harry Elfont could have pushed the comedy more. It's already wacky in tone. They just needed more jokes.

This manic, rainbow-hued comedy is like The Monkees by way of the Disney Channel, but I mean that in the best possible way. It is fast, funny, satirical and has a surprisingly good soundtrack. The cast seems to be having a ball and the whole thing kicks off with an inspiringly hilarious opening scene. About the only criticism I can make of Josie and the Pussycats is that much of the humor is at the expense of teenagers and youth culture, so it's more enjoyable the older you are.Based on the old Archie comic book about a three-girl rock band, this film quickly sweeps them out of Riverdale and into a fairly sharp tongued spoof of the music industry and American consumerism. There's Josie (Rachael Leigh Cook), the leader of the band who's never sure she's really good enough to be a rock star. There's Val (Rosario Dawson), who's more confident on the outside but is worried about falling into Josie's shadow. And then there's Melody (Tara Reid), the spirited ditz with a sunny disposition.Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming) is the record label executive who latches onto the Pussycats as the vehicle for the schemes of his nefarious boss Fiona (Parker Posey). They put subliminal messages in the Pussycats' songs to make teenagers buy all that crap they don't need. Fiona and Wyatt also subliminally brainwash Josie into becoming a diva and ditching her two best friends. Add in Alexander Cabot (Paulo Costanzo), the putative manager of Josie and the group, his obnoxious and skunk-haired sister Alexandra (Missy Pyle) and Alan M. (Gabriel Mann), the sexiest boy in Riverdale and Josie's secret crush, and you've got the makings of a movie that's like a cross between a shallower Legally Blonde and a faster Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.Now, there's nothing at all here to be taken seriously and the film does barrage the viewer with music video-style montages and the most intentionally obtrusive product placement in movie history, but it's all part of Josie and the Pussycats' veritable charm. This is a smart, snappy movie that's probably one of the most entertaining comic book adaptations ever.