Never Been Kissed (1999)

A journalist enrolls in her old highschool as part of her research for a story.

Director:

Raja Gosnell

Writers:

Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein

Stars:

Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Michael Vartan

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Drew Barrymore	...	Josie Geller
David Arquette	...	Rob Geller
Michael Vartan	...	Sam Coulson
Molly Shannon	...	Anita
John C. Reilly	...	Gus
Garry Marshall	...	Rigfort
Sean Whalen	...	Merkin
Cress Williams	...	George
Octavia Spencer	...	Cynthia (as Octavia L. Spencer)
Sarah DeVincentis	...	Rhoda
Allen Covert	...	Roger in Op-Ed
Rock Reiser	...	Dutton
David Doty	...	Hairplug Bruns
Derek Morgan	...	Armcast Henson (as Derrick Morgan)
Kathleen Marshall	...	Sun-Times Worker

Storyline

Chicago Sun Times copy editor Josie Gellar (25), who was desperate to graduate from perfectionist copy editor to reporter, gets her chance when the goody owner orders the editor to cover the high-school scene by undercover. Josie, who was a frustrated, ridiculed nerd, gets a popular make-over from her drop-out, naturally funny brother Rob Geller. Both siblings find love and joys of youth again. But in Josie's case, it's sensitive bachelor teacher Sam Coulson, who enjoys sophisticated conversation. As the publication deadline approaches, the price of blowing their cover seems ever more daunting, yet inevitable unless she sacrifices her career.

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Plot Keywords:

editor | high school | undercover | reporter | teacher | 

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Taglines:

She's never been hip. Never been cool. Never been in... Until now

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related material and some drug content

Details

Official Sites:

FOX Mexico Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 April 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jamás besada

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£825,168 (UK) (27 August 1999)

Gross:

ESP 224,279,960 (Spain) (29 June 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Bushwood Pictures, Flower Films (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It is an issue in the movie that Josie is considerably older than her "high school crush" Guy (she is supposed to be 25, while he would be about 17), but actually, Drew Barrymore is 2 years younger than Jeremy Jordan, the actor who plays Guy.

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Goofs

When Josie enters the reggae nightclub, the word "DELLOSER" is stamped on her hand. The top half of the stamp has the word regular the bottom half has the same word upside down. It still reads from left to right but the letters are upside down. Later that night, when Josie falls asleep on her hand, some of the ink from the stamp gets on her forehead. Her forehead says "Loser" - forward and right-side up. If the upper portion of the stamp had transferred, it would have said "Loser" backward. If the lower portion of the stamp had transferred, it would have said "Loser" upside down and backward.

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Quotes

Guy Perkins: Hi, I'm Guy.
Josie Geller: Yes, you are a guy. Quite a guy. Oh my. Hey, that rhymes! Yikes. Bikes!
Guy Perkins: Are you in special-ed? I mean, are you?
Kristin Davis: A Geek?
Gibby Zerefski: You totally just said that out load.

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits feature school photos of the cast and crew.

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Connections

References Free to Be... You & Me (1974)

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Soundtracks

"The Simpson's Theme"
Written by Danny Elfman

User Reviews

Can't hate anything with Drew Barrymore and Jessica Alba in the cast list...

The nice thing about Drew Barrymore - or, to paraphrase the late Douglas Adams, ONE of the nice things for there are several - is that she's willing to try almost anything from "Guncrazy" to "Ever After" (although I suspect she would draw the line at "Bad Girls 2"). In this appealing though predictable teen flick, she's an eager writer for a newspaper given a chance to prove she can do more by going undercover to see what today's teens are up to in high school, and finds that nothing's really changed.

Drew is as engaging as ever whether appearing in class way too overdressed or dancing on stage while on drugs (relax, the film's overall pretty inoffensive), and it may have been prophetic that her joke about having been named Josie after the leader of a cartoon rock band goes over the head of her best friend at school (the film version of "Josie and the Pussycats" was a box office flop in America). The movie isn't exactly surprising, and won't appeal to anyone who insists on teen films having acid in their veins - but then again, the edgier "Jawbreaker" wasn't just bad-spirited, it was BAD, period. Call me soppy, but I like a happy ending, and this does have one (even The Prettiest Girls In School don't turn out to be that horrid in the end).

If only the Seekers' "Free To Be You And Me" (which Drew and her friends sing along to in a car in one scene) and some of David Newman's sweet score had been on the soundtrack album, but that's not a problem exclusive to this film; what with this and "Charlie's Angels" (not to mention "Olive, the Other Reindeer") Barrymore's record as a producer is a lot better than, say, Michelle Pfeiffer's. And as I said in the summary, you get Drew Barrymore and Jessica Alba in the same movie (this is a Twentieth Century Fox movie in more ways than one).