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"Never Been Kissed" is a pathetic excuse for a film that
is painful to watch for its vexatious main character, pitiful
plot, and miserable attempts at levity.
Drew Barrymore, who is so nauseatingly sweet that she would
be better off in a Pepto-Bismol commercial, plays the incredibly
geeky copy editor Josie (or, as she was dubbed in high school,
Josie-Grossie). Desperate to write for the paper rather than
remaining a copy editor, Josie begs for an assignment until
she is sent back to school, assigned to do a story entitled
"My Semester in High School". So she must pretend to be a
seventeen year-old in order to uncover information for an
expose.
Once back in high school, Josie finds herself in the same
situation as before: as an unhip geek who is tormented by
the popular kids.
"Never Been Kissed" drove me crazy. I wanted to smack Josie
for making such an obnoxious target of herself; she overdoes
the nerdiness to an unbelievable point. I also found it incredibly
frustrating to watch her smile and fawn her way through situations;
at one point, I thought I'd scream if she gave that pathetic,
darling little smile one more time. Gag me, this film has
more saccharin than a three-liter bottle of diet cola.
Also, the abundance of these "high school" movies has become
increasingly tiresome lately. Where in the world do Hollywood
producers get the idea that this is the kind of stuff people
(including teenagers!) want to see? Most offer the same uninteresting
characters, and end up exactly the same way. I swear I saw
the whole movie when I saw the previews for "Never Been Kissed".
My rating: 1 star
Rating: PG-13 (for sex-related material and some drug content)
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