Never Been Kissed (1999)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Okay, so before I start I would like to make it clear that I saw this movie late on in life, and it's already considered kind of old, which I'm sure has had a huge impact on my judgment of the film... I know that this is a hugely loved film by many women (and some men I know, for that matter) so I don't mean to upset any cult followers with my rating of it, but unfortunately by the time I saw this film there was nothing really unique about it. It's all been done before, and after having been given so many good reports, I guess my expectations were just too high. I love Drew Barrymore, I think she's a great actress, but this can hardly be considered one of her finest roles (that's not a complaint, by the way, just saying). So really I don't feel that I've missed out on much. In the film Drew had to wait until she was nearly 25 to get the kiss of her dreams, I had to wait that long to see this movie, and like the kiss, some things are kind of over rated.

Never Been Kissed (1999): Dir: Raja Gosnell / Cast: Drew Barrymore, John C. Reilly, Leelee Sobieski, Molly Shannon, David Arquette: Teen comedy that can be delightful or painful depending on one's personal view of high school. Title gives way to hope with Drew Barrymore as Josie Gellar whose high school experiences were nightmarish with chants of, "Josie Grossie!" Now working as a copy editor where she hopes to become a reporter her opportunity arrives when she is assigned to go undercover at the local high school. Premise is promising but the material has more promise than it actually delivers. Directed by Raja Gosnell as an improvement over the dreadful Home Alone 3. Barrymore pretty much carries the film with a funny yet sympathetic performance. It is obvious that she will be kissed but unfortunately her Prince charming is no more life like than a mannequin. Supporting roles are the flat cardboard variety expected. John C. Reilly plays her standard demanding boss. Leelee Sobieski plays the standard cool crowd leader. Molly Shannon plays Barrymore's brainiac friend who should have stuck with playing Mary Katherine Gallagher. David Arquette plays Barrymore's brother and perhaps some viewers will call that a stretch. Although Barrymore doesn't pass as a high school student, she scores higher grades than the film's social and traumatic viewpoint. Score: 4 ½ / 10

My friend said once that one can enjoy a movie yet it is not a good movie. This is an example of such a movie. I enjoyed this movie but I really do not consider it to be a good movie. Even then, it does have a few interesting points, but unfortunately these points are not drawn out more, but even then, they are sacrificed for a more important idea.Never Been Kissed is about a young lady that had a hell of a time at High School, and she is given a job to return to high school and learn about what high school kids are up to these days. As such we have a jump between the time when she was in high school previously and he current time at high school. The title of the movie describes her desire to find the perfect man. Of course we quickly work out who this man is, but unfortunately she is masquerading as a student so her options are limited.One of the ideas is the mask, and this is paralleled with Shakespeare's play As You Like It. The English teacher describes how when one is disguised as somebody else then they can do things that they would not normally do. This sinks into the woman, but it is never drawn out. She really does not act as she would in real life because there are more issues that she must face.Her goal is to get into the in crowd and she spends a lot of time trying to do this. Unfortunately it reeks of effort, and this is never drawn out. She tries hard to get people to accept her, but she always ends up failing, and in the end never is accepted for who she is because she is trying to be something that she is not. She does get into the in crowd but not through her own actions but through the help of her brother, who has always been in the in crowd.Finally this movie compares what it was like then to what it is like now. They show a lot of differences, including the searches at the entrance, and the fact that she was not a part of the in crowd and now she is, but the conclusion that the movie comes to is that all of these changes are superficial. Everything is really the same - the same quirky teachers, the same studley, and the same brains.I felt that this movie had some interesting ideas, but it fell down when trying to pick up on these ideas. There were a number of different ones which meant that other ideas had to fall behind when a more important, but less relevant one, came about. I guess it could have been better if it focused either on the mask, or the attempt to try and work one's way into the in crowd. The first would have had her behaving in a way that was not herself, and then realising it later when her true friends are hurt, or she tries so hard and fails, and then realises that her effort is going to waste so she resigns to being herself and succeeds.

Never Been Kissed is a cute little movie with a silly plot- A newspaper editor named Josie Gellar, played by Drew Barrymore, dreaming of becoming a reporter is given a story to go undercover and to write about the high school scene.Having been a nerd and taunted a lot in high school, she sees this as a second chance to be "cool". With a makeover by her brother, she enters the high school scene. Her brother starts to get excited and decides to go undercover as well. Josie manages to become friends with both the popular and geeky kids and her second chance in high school becomes the life she always dreamed of.She becomes well liked in the school and starts to fall for her teacher.As school life and fun as a teen starts to get to her head, she begins to get closer to her deadline and must make a decision between blowing her cover and possibly dating the teacher or simply just writing her story and being done with high school forever.And to top it all off, she hasn't been kissed and would love for her teacher to be her first kiss. This leads to complications. If you're into girly movies and high school movies and feel good movies, you will LOVE Never Been Kissed. I was a big nerd in high school who wasn't really popular and thus, I hated high school like Josie did. While I wouldn't want a second chance, it was fun seeing Josie relive her high school days and having fun. It's one of those movies you really don't have to take too serious mainly cause the plot is kind of unrealistic. Other than that, you'll enjoy the movie. It's got a "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" feel to it!