The Film Reports

Rating: 2.5/5

Comedy, Romance, Drama

This is one romcom that I’ve never fully come around to. While Drew Barrymore is, as always, delightful to watch, Never Been Kissed has not aged well. In all honestly, i’m not sure why it’s remembered as fondly in the public psyche as it is.

The plot follows Josie (Drew Barrymore), an uptight copyeditor who’s just been given her first chance of writing her first story. She then goes undercover in a local highschool because apparently that’s where all the news is. In high school. A good chunk of the beginning is used to set up Josie’s pre-transformation characterisation. Her hair is tied up in a plait. Her jacket is buttoned up right to her chin. She corrects people on their grammar. None of this is applicable after she starts going to high school by the way. The other major note of this part is that the amount of second-hand embarrassment is off the charts. It’s so cringe-worthy, built on dodgy dialogue and reliant on high school stereotypes.

Once she starts going to high school (btw. how? have they managed to get her back? we don’t get told) she makes friends and loses them just as quickly while she tries to get into the cool crowd, which she does eventually with the help of her brother, Joe (David Arquette) who has also managed to sign up for a repeat of high school. Parts of this is actually entertaining. Bitchy high school drama is always fun to watch and especially when the script doesn’t take itself too seriously – like when one of the popular girls tells a couple dressed as Mary and Joseph that they can’t sit at their table.

There’s also some nicely shot little scenes. The ferris wheel scene is nice. Some of the flashbacks that come later have a good balance of embarrassing detail and heartwarming emotion. And there’s a magical little scene where the characters (no spoilers lol) are dancing together and music and lighting (and slow mo?) come together is really quite beautiful. And the last couple of scenes.

But of course, the most central part of Never Been Kissed is the romance. The thing about a love story though, is that you have to be rooting for the characters to end up together. First of all, they barely have enough scenes together – maybe one scene that is clearly set up for romance before the climax. It’s just not enough to even relate the characters to each other in any sense, let alone in a romantic sense. I did really like the last scene, it was very cute, but independently of the rest of the movie lol.

And second, he’s her English teacher. I don’t think I need to expand on that. While they are actually of a similar age, it still feels weird and doesn’t ever do much to change that. But this is just the biggest example of this film’s lack of any ethical/moral sense. Joe constantly remarks on the high school girls, and eventually pursues a relationship with one even after Josie reminds him she is 16. Other characters echo the same sentiment as Joe. It’s so uncomfortable.

In conclusion, the first 30ish minutes pushes a caricature of Josie and it’s embarrassing and unneeded. The plot is held together by a string (and overall some dodgy dialogue). And it has some weird student/teacher moments.

Watch it: over sunday lunch with friends and family.