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Jason Maloney reviews 
20th Century Fox
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 14249 DVD
- Running time: 103 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 30 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English (and for the hearing impaired)
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Original Theatrical Trailer
Director:
- Raja Gosnell
Cast:
- Josie Geller: Drew Barrymore
Rob Geller: David Arquette
Sam Coulson: Michael Vartan
Anita: Molly Shannon
Gus: John C Reilly
Rigfort: Gary Marshall
Aldys: Leelee Sobieski
Guy Perkins: Jeremy Jordan
Some high-concept major studio projects can hit upon the magic formula even when they are calculatedly aiming for it all the while. It’s a dicey business though – and not something which can be legislated for. Fail, and the result will be a clinical, heartless slice of manipulative fluff. That’s the price of playing with audience emotion, but when it works… it’s a delight to behold.
Drew Barrymore is fast-becoming the surest means of getting that winning magic, after The Wedding Singer and now this latest retro romantic comedy jewel. Imagine that seminal Adam Sandler movie without Barrymore, without that streak of genuine chemistry, the adorable natural sweetness of her performance. It just wouldn’t (and couldn’t) be the same. Never Been Kissed is no different in that respect.
Here, she is Sun Times journalist Josie Geller, a go-getting career girl who’s reached the age of 25 without ever really having had a proper relationship. In a bid to increase the newspaper’s readership – and usurp their rivals – her employers send her on an undercover mission back to High School, the scene of Josie’s constant humilation years before.
At this point in time, there are few, if any, of her contemporaries who could pull this off with such aplomb. In other hands it might be embarrassing, clumsy… still funny perhaps, but for all the wrong reasons. There is no irony at work here, and no need for it. Everyone plays it straight, just like a bona fide teen flick. And therein lies its charm. By eschewing the ironic, eyebrow-raised-in-self-deprication card, the film has a chance of finding some truth in its manufactured scenario. It gives itself the opportunity to elevate itself above mere popcorn entertainment. But for that to happen, you have to be able to believe in the characters.
It’s no use if the sight of a 25 year-old Barrymore playing a 25 year-old journalist back in High School pretending to be 17 again just doesn’t convince. It’s also no use if David Arquette can’t make you believe he’s also doing the same thing, except he’s her brother and not another journalist. One of the two making it work isn’t enough. Even both of them won’t do it… this has to be an ensemble effort. It is. It works a treat. Just as carefully choreographed slapstick comedy can still produce belly laughs, Never Been Kissed‘s contrived emotional and romantic concept can still push all the right buttons without cheapening either its own sentiments and psychology, or that of its audience.
Comparisons with Ron Howard‘s EDtv may draw puzzled looks from many people, but they both succeed in extracting a sense of emotional honesty from scenarios that are hardly condusive to allowing such a thing. The wonder of EDtv was not the portrayal of a 24-hour non-stop TV show of someone’s life, it was the genesis and evolution of the story’s central relationship, so deftly and accurately brought to life by the film’s two leads. Never Been Kissed achieves the same thing, and several scenes involving Barrymore’s character – wired up for picture and sound by her employers – being watched as she interacts with fellow students and teachers with a variety of consequences, evoke almost identically those seen in EDtv.
So far, so good. Now for the bad news – Fox have hardly gone to much trouble with this title. Released simultaneously with the VHS retail version, there are no extras to speak of, bar a standard trailer, yet the disc is priced at almost twice the £10.99 of the video equivalent.
Compared to the treatment given to the likes of She’s All That American Pie and Cruel Intentions, it’s a distinctly threadbare job. Even the choice of subtitle languages is almost non-existant, with English for the hard of hearing the only option available.
The picture has nothing untoward to mention, although Barrymore’s dialogue during the first 10-15 minutes is difficult to decipher at times. It’s a bright, colourful, film with plenty of sparkle, and the disc at least does justice to that. The soundtrack, meanwhile, has some choice 80s tracks by Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Cutting Crew, as well as more recent tunes by acts including Hole, The Cardigans, R.E.M and Semisonic… but sadly no music promo videos.
Depending on personal taste, it’s either an essential film-only DVD or a very poor and over-priced package.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
0 OVERALL
Check out Jason’s homepage: The Slipstream.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.