by Harry Elfont & Deborah Kaplan, 2001.
Starring: Alan Cumming, Rosario Dawson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Gabriel Mann, Parker Posey, and Tara Reid.
Rating: 9.5/10, 6/10.
I’m so confused. I’ve pondered and I’ve pondered, but I still can’t figure out why this movie got even one bad review, let alone nearly all bad ones. What’s going on?
Josie & The Pussycats is one of the funniest, smartest comedies I’ve seen in a long time, and certainly one of the very best "teen" comedies I’ve EVER seen. The plot revolves around the Pussycats—Josie (Cook), Valerie (Dawson), and Melody (Reid), a sort of poppy-punk-girl band struggling to get recognised in a small town. They’re picked up by evil record label executive Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming), who grooms them to be the next pre-fab pop sensation designed to carry sinister subliminal messages. These messages, it turns out, dictate trends and fads ("Pepsi One is the new Diet Coke!"), all controlled by Fiona (hooray for Parker Posey!), a ridiculously fashionable villain.
There is nothing in this movie that is short of wonderful. It’s probably the only movie I’ve ever seen where I’ve laughed (hard) because of the product placement, and was meant to. The actors are all wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. In fact, let me talk about each of them individually.
First—Rachael Leigh Cook. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but this girl is beautiful. And she has incredible presence in this film—she’s the sort of main-character-who-doesn’t-have-as-interesting-a-personality-as-the-supporting-characters character, only it’s very credibly pulled off and we care about and love Josie. Rosario Dawson is quietly great as Val, who grows jealous of Josie, whom she perceives to be the center of all the band’s fan’s attentions. As for Tara Reid...who knew an audience could grow to care so much about such a ridiculously ditzy character ("If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands...")? Alan Cumming needs no praise—he’s always been great in his billions of supporting roles throughout his career. Gabriel Mann (who play’s Josie’s love interest, Alan M., and who ranks at least a nine on the hottie scale) is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. And Parker Posey...Parker Posey...Parker Posey. I could write an epic poem about how wonderful Parker Posey is.
I don’t have much to say about this movie that can’t be summed up by simply saying, "See Josie & The Pussycats. See it. See it. See it."
don't bother reading roger ebert's ridiculous review