{"id":2177,"date":"2024-08-08T15:59:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T15:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2177"},"modified":"2024-10-14T12:40:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:40:41","slug":"josie-and-the-pussycats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/08\/josie-and-the-pussycats\/","title":{"rendered":"Josie and the Pussycats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Josie and the Pussycats <\/strong>(2001)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 98 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, sensuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Frizzell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Matthew Libatique\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 11, 2001 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Paulo Costanzo, Missi Pyle, Gabriel Mann, Tom Butler, Donald Faison, Seth Green, Breckin Meyer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $14.9M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0A total guilty pleasure! I grew up watching the cartoon Josie and the Pussycats, so naturally I was skeptical when I heard that a live-action take was in the works. Let\u2019s face it, Hollywood hasn\u2019t always been successful in their attempts at adapting cartoons many of us loved as children. The bad (e.g. Popeye, Mr. Magoo, Inspector Gadget, Dudley Do-Right, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Yogi Bear) definitely outweighs the good (e.g. Masters of the Universe, Casper, George of the Jungle and Fat Albert) in this area.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What a nice surprise to discover Josie and the Pussycats<\/strong> belongs in the \u201cgood\u201d category. It\u2019s not 100% faithful to its source. It\u2019s been updated for 21st<\/sup> century audiences and parodies things like pre-fabricated bands and product placements. The 2001 movie bombed with critics and audiences, but I suspect it has less to do with quality than not getting the joke. It\u2019s a smarter film than one would expect from a bubble-headed comedy with three attractive leads and a few bouncy tunes. It\u2019s so likable, I don\u2019t see how anybody can knock it, but that\u2019s just me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Josie and the Pussycats<\/strong> opens with a dead-on potshot at boy bands with the pop group Du Jour attracting a huge crowd of screaming fans (teenage girls mostly) at an airport as they embark on a world tour. Wearing headsets, they perform a number called \u201cBackdoor Lover\u201d which makes one wonder if it\u2019s a shot at the perceived sexuality of certain singers. Joining them on their private jet is promoter Wyatt Frame (Cumming, X2: X-Men United), one of the movie\u2019s villains. One band member seals all their fates when he inquires about strange background noise on a recording. Wyatt causes the plane to crash, but not before parachuting to safety first.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In need of a new band to promote to teens eager to spend their money, he literally runs into local Riverdale rock band The Pussycats- lead singer Josie McCoy (Cook, She\u2019s All That), ditzy drummer Melody Valentine (Reid, American Pie) and flinty bassist Valerie Brown (Dawson, Death Proof). Wyatt offers them a deal despite not hearing them play a single song. He brings them to New York where they become an instant success, climbing to the top of the charts in about a week. It\u2019s all part of a nefarious plan cooked up by Wyatt and his boss, record label CEO Fiona (Posey, Dazed and Confused). In short, they\u2019re using subaural messages implanted in the music to brainwash susceptible teens into buying all sorts of products.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Josie and the Pussycats<\/strong> is made in the spirit of fun. Fans of the 70s cartoon will enjoy seeing familiar characters like band manager Alexander Cabot (Costanzo, Road Trip), his mean twin sister Alexandra (Pyle, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Josie\u2019s romantic interest Alan M. (Mann, Outside Providence). Writer-directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan (the underrated teen comedy Can\u2019t Hardly Wait) do a great job with the material, imbuing it with a zany spirit and colorful palette. The casting is absolutely perfect! That\u2019s especially true of Reid who makes Melody a lovable nitwit who sees the world through the eyes of a child. She\u2019s actually my favorite character in the whole movie. Cook is very good as loyal Josie who doesn\u2019t like all the attention heaped on her by publicists and fans. She\u2019s not comfortable with the band being renamed Josie and the Pussycats. Dawson does very well as kind but tough-minded Val, the first one to suspect that Wyatt is up to something. The girls have great chemistry; their rapport is easy and unforced.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cumming and Posey are great as the villains, the kind of meanies only found in silly cartoonish movies like Josie and the Pussycats<\/strong>. However, it\u2019s Pyle that gets off the movie\u2019s best line. When asked by her brother why she\u2019s joining them on their trip, she says \u201cI\u2019m here because I was in the comic book.\u201d Great throwaway line!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Elfont and Kaplan are also spot-on when it comes to the prevalence of product placements in entertainment. They even give their own product (Can\u2019t Hardly Wait) a quick, blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it mention. The music is pretty good. It\u2019s totally bubble gum flavored, but it\u2019s bouncy. The movie features a few cool cameos, my favorite being \u201cMr. Moviefone\u201d (voice only of course). Carson Daly, then Reid\u2019s boyfriend, shows up in an amusing scene.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I could say that Josie and the Pussycats<\/strong> teaches an important lesson about thinking for yourself, but why bother? It\u2019s not the kind of movie you go to expecting to learn valuable life lessons. It\u2019s just an entertaining comedy with a beat. It\u2019s as mindless as its original source and just as enjoyable. It\u2019s too bad it didn\u2019t go over at the box office. I wouldn\u2019t have minded a sequel so as long as it didn\u2019t send the characters into outer space.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josie and the Pussycats (2001)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 98 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, sensuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Frizzell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Matthew Libatique\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 11, 2001 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Paulo Costanzo, Missi Pyle, Gabriel Mann, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Josie-and-the-Pussycats-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2177"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3065,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177\/revisions\/3065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}