The late ’90s saw a splurge of classic high school set romcoms. “Never Been Kissed” fits the mold, sans the classic part.
Drew Barrymore stars as Josie; a young reporter at the Chicago Sun Times. Despite looking like Drew Barrymore, Josie has had no successful relationships. She chose to focus solely on her career but come on, its Drew Barrymore.
Flashbacks indicate that Josie was a nerdy mess, and her task of going undercover as a high school student is layered as a result. “You get to be 17 again!” A friend exclaims.
Drew Barrymore is fine in the role of Josie. It’s a ridiculous plot and silly character, but she has fun with it. Barrymore is joined by David Arquette who plays her much cooler brother. Arquette owns some of the best comedy moments in the movie, and single handedly keeps it from flunking.
I did enjoy the parallel plot lines of young Josie and current Josie dealing with the same high school issues. It’s standard for the course. Nerds vs Cool. One would think an adult would be immune to these pressures but believably they are not.
A lot of the jokes don’t work because Josie is only a handful of years older than the high school kids, yet they react to some of her lines as though she’s a senior citizen. And the love element is cringe to say the least. Yes, we the viewer knows Josie is an adult but her teacher (Michael Vartan) who falls in love with her does not. It gets a bit weird.
Like any ’90s production, the soundtrack is great.
“Never Been Kissed” is best having Never Been Watched. There are far better options for late 90s high school films. This one fails to be anything other than an also ran.
“Never Been Kissed” is currently only available on all streaming services.
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