Touches You

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Blistering performances.

Josie Geller apparently has never been cool. Well, not in highschool anyway. She was an outcast, ridiculed, and mocked during her original highschool experience, and Josie starts getting ridiculed and mocked again when she goes back to highschool undercover from the Chicago sun times at age 25. Josie really is clueless, just look at what she wears on her first day back in school, and look how stupid and awkward she acts in her first class (I came from Billy, Billy Bali, I was a sheep herder). She accidentally said Billy cause she thought she saw Billy, her old highschool crush (who didn't like her anyway) for a second. But why would she think that he would be going back to highschool too, on the same day, in the same class. And even if she did accidentally say Billy, she could've thought of something better to say then "Billy Bali", and 'I was a sheep herder". Don't ask questions. At lunch when seeing a popular guy named Guy, Josie says " yes, you are a guy. What a guy...Yikes!..Bikes!" That's right, I'm serious. At age 14, I would've known cooler ways to act in school, and she was 25! Josie only later becomes cool because her brother Rob enrolls, becomes cool on his first day when winning a coleslaw eating contest, and tells the other popular kids Josie really is cool. Yeh. Like that will automatically change things. In my four years of highschool, I never knew of any kid who became popular on his first day at a new school by eating a gigantic trash barrel sized container of coleslaw. Another thing I noticed about the highschool in this movie was the scantily revealing outfits the girls (such as Jessica Alba) were wearing in school. Don't most schools have dress codes? I mean, they have strict airport style security at the school entrances and take away straws and nail files from you saying that they're weapons, but they let the girls there dress all slutty. And the airport style securities were never seen again after the one scene the whole rest of the movie, but Josie and other characters were still seen coming into school entrances several more times without the securities anywhere in sight. Then there's Josie's 23 year old brother Rob there who looks at the girls and says things such as "looks like we have some underage hottie's on our hands". And he starts going out with a 16 year old gymnast. In real life, I believe he would be in jail. Then there's the unpopular girl who becomes Josie's only friend on her first day. Why is she unpopular? She is just as pretty as the popular girls. She just isn't a complete bitch who dresses like a slut, and she's on the math team. Wait, I just answered my own question. Then there's Josie's workplace at the Chicago sun times. Josie's boss Gus (Jon O'Reilly) yells at her way too much like he just simply hates her. But I believe part of the reason of that is that Gus's boss Gary Marshal in the board meetings is such a jerk to him. I mean, Gary says that if Josie screws up, he won't just fire Josie, he'll fire both Josie and Gus. Then there's the hidden camera on a pin button that they put on Josie's shirt before she enters the school. I am able to know that such a thing is illegal. It's a violation. I mean, everyone at work would be able to see everywhere she goes, including the ladies room. Then after they put the button on Josie's shirt, suddenly everyone at the Chicago sun times is suddenly not doing anything anymore except all sitting around watching Josie's day on the TV. So did everyone else at work have no other work to do anymore?

The late 90s saw a brief resurgence in the teen comedy genre (Humorously parodied in the underrated 'Not Another Teen Movie', a movie I cannot recommend to you enough), many of which have blended together into a fuzzy mosaic of mediocrity in our collective memory a decade and a half later. This otherwise forgettable Drew Barrymore vehicle stands out (relatively) thanks mostly--perhaps exclusively--to her energy and charm.Every cliché box is checked and no surprises await the viewer here, but Ms. Barrymore smooths over the movie's cracks like an adorably lisping spackle.

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

Josie Gellar (Drew Barrymore) is a Chicago Sun Times copy editor. She's a stiff perfectionist, and not aggressive enough to be a reporter. That is until the owner arbitrarily assigns Josie as an undercover high school student. Only she was a loser nerd in her high school years, and she returns as a loser nerd in her new undercover work. With the help of her younger drop-out brother Rob Geller (David Arquette), she gets a makeover and infiltrates the popular group.She is scary nerdy and humiliating. It's really not funny unless we are supposed to laugh at her. Luckily for the movie, Drew Barrymore is impossibly lovable. She makes us love her no matter what, and makes this sad pathetic character somewhat watchable.