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Review
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Today's
Date is:
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Josie
and the Pussycats
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Reviewed
by: |
Christopher
J. Jarmick |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Video: |
Anamorphic
1.85:1 Widescreen |
| Audio: |
DTS
5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Language: |
English,
French |
| Subtitle: |
English
(Captioned) |
| Length: |
99
minutes |
| Rating: |
PG-13 |
| Release
Date: |
08/14/01 |
| Studio: |
Universal |
| Commentary:
|
Feature
length commentary from the directors and producer Marc Platt
is included. |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
The
promotional 24 minute Making of Featurette called Backstage
Pass is included. |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
Incomplete
and mundanely presented combination of Filmography/Biography
for major cast and creative are included. |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Widescreen
trailer of the film is included |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
A
scant 3 short deleted scenes are here. Actually 2 are extended
scenes one of which is about 10 seconds longer than in the movie. |
| Music
Video: |
The
produced music video for Josie and the Pussycats "3 Small Words"
is included as well as the funny mock music video for the boy
band Du Jour of a totally inappropriate teenybopper boy band
song (but that's the point) called Backdoor Lover. |
| Other:
|
Production
notes of little value or detail are included. |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Rachel Leigh
Cook, Rosario Dawson, Tara Reid, Alan Cumming, Parker Posey,
and Missy Pyle |
| Screenplay
by: |
NA |
| Produced
by: |
Tony DeRosa-Grund (producer),
Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds (executive producer) Tracey E. Edmonds
(producer) , Richard Goldwater (executive producer), Chuck Grimes
(producer) Marc E. Platt (producer) Michael Silberkleit (executive
producer |
| Directed
By: |
Deborah Kaplan and Harry
Elfont |
| Music: |
John Frizzell |
| The
Review: |
I was really
dreading the prospect of sitting through Josie and the Pussycats.
My teenage daughter wanted to see the film when it was in theaters
and I knew she wanted to see it on DVD and then I was asked
to review it for the one of the greatest DVD review in the entire
Universe (DVDivas.net). You see I am the guy who took his daughter
to see The Spice Girls Movie a couple years ago. I even heard
that it was actually a pretty good film and a few critics wound
up comparing that one to the Beatles A Hard Days Night. Insert
very long pause here. Have you had the misfortune of watching
The Spice Girls movie? It's a terrible thing when every fiber
of your body demands that you walk out of a movie for fear of
losing your sanity and you stay because your daughter is at
least somewhat enjoying the film. * * * I was happy to learn
that my daughter only liked part of The Spice Girls Movie and
in fact like much of the rest of the fickle pop music buying
public, lost interest in The Spice Girls altogether soon thereafter.
* * * Which brings us to JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS. I was a big
fan of Archie comic books briefly when I was growing up. About
the time I stopped being a fan is when the Archie cartoon series
began on Saturday morning t.v. and the bubble gum toons like
Sugar Sugar by the Archies made a big splash. This was followed
by the spin-off Josie and the Pussycats. * * * Was the world
clamoring more than 30 years later for a live-action Josie and
the Pussycats movie? I don't think so. However I guess the timing
seemed right for this film to be made. Why not… boy bands are
huge, the Spice Girls came and went, it was time for another
girl band and why not tie it all in with the old t.v. series
and comic book? * * * The surprise perhaps is that Josie and
the Pussycats is a better, smarter film than The Spice Girls
Movie and it's also packed with a couple of obvious but worthwhile
messages. The three Josie band members leads are fun to watch
as are the two very cartoonish villains in the movie played
by Alan Cummings and Parker Posey. The film was not nearly as
irritating or grating as I was expecting it to be. * * * It
still wasn't very good however. * * * The film is a broad satire
of consumerism and fads, and without apology it tries to start
a new one. There's a lot of Spinal Tap in this movie and there's
a whole lot of The Monkees in the film too. They've been updated,
the satire has been dumbed down to eliminate any cutting edges
and some teenagers will be utterly insulted in how relentlessly
the film pictures them as easily manipulated consumer hungry
trend and fad following zombies. However it's all so cartoonish
in the worst sense of the word that nothing bites, or stings.
You'll get some laughs. You will probably start to enjoy some
of the digs and then realize the digs are barely disturbing
the top soil. The germ of the good idea that's in this film
is over-sold and clumsily handled.* * * There is also precious
little here for an audience to connect to. The characters are
cute and adorable but utterly fantasy creations. So much so,
that these teenagers don't have any parents or brothers or sisters
to deal with. They have bus passes and pocket change and have
musical instruments and a van and go to high school. . . but
they don't have teachers, or parents or siblings interacting
with them at all. * * * When sleazy record company executive
literally bumps into them accidentally and makes them huge overnight
sensations, no parent or teacher is consulted before the girls
are whisked away to a New York like big city for the huge planned
concert. * * * The best part of the film is the first 20 minutes.
Once the set up is in place, it plays itself out in an extremely
predictable fashion with out any twists or surprises whatsoever.
However there are some funny lines, over the top performances,
and lots of music video like montages and energy to distract
you from realizing how utterly flat the film has become. * *
* The best bits in the film involve a boy band as popular as
The Backstreet Boys or NSYNC called Du Jour. Their plane lands
and they do a quick airport appearance where they sing a snippet
of their big hit (the utterly inappropriate) Backdoor Lover
on the airport tarmac to a crowd of screaming fans. * * * In
the next and best written scene of the entire film the sleazy
manager who is also the record labels a/r chief and second in
command stops the teenager boys from bickering.* * * But there
are too many problems with the band who have become too high
maintenance to manage as easily as they were in the past. So
the manager and pilot of the plane jump out. The idea is that
the plane will crash and the teen pop idols will become temporarily
more popular in their death then they were while being big living
stars. * * * The psychotic head of the label (played by an over-the
top Parker Posey) demands that the sleazy Cummings find a new
band. The reason we will soon discover is because subliminal
messages are put into the music to help sell other products
to teenagers. It's all about selling things to teenagers and
the FBI and other governments are at least somewhat approving
of the brainwashing technology the record company has developed.
* * * Before we learn about that however we meet Josie and the
Pussycats. An extremely slick, three piece girl band of high
schoolers who's latest gig is a small suburban town's bowling
alley. No one pays any attention to them though. They are too
busy bowling. As they leave, a trio of classmates who pull up
to the bowling alley listening to the Du Jours on their radio,
make fun of them, calling them freaks. * * * The Pussycats are
depressed and try to set up an impromptu gig in a mall but are
chased away by police and run out into the street where they
are nearly run over by sleazy record guy Cummings. Cummings
decides to turn them into overnight sensations. * * * The film
is covered with advertising slogans and product placement. It's
all to the point of gross overkill. They are making fun of it
all by completely over-doing it. I found it to be an old joke
and it's not the type of thing you laugh out loud over anyway.
Rachel Leigh Cook is Josie McCoy, Tara Reid (from American Pie
fame) is Melody Valentine the dumb but loveable blond drummer
and Rosario Dawson as Valerie Brown is the ethnic sassy bass
player of the group. They pretend they are in a much better
movie than they actually are. * * * The music is pop bubble
gum with a touch of r and b. It was produced by Kenneth 'Babyface'
Edmonds. It's supposed to represent manufactured junk and does.
Unfortunately the one song that is supposed to be a little different
from the others…. is just like everything else in the movie.
As Josie states to a crowd that they are free to like or not
like whatever music they want to, the film-makers subject us
to more endless shots of teenagers loving the Josie and the
Pussycat music and not showing us even one teenager rejecting
the band or it's music. * * * Alan Cummings is way, way over
the top, and having a great time being a ham. His comic instincts
and timing are usually correct. Parker Posey unfortunately is
one note and her comic instincts aren't as correct as Cummings..
When she's on screen more than 30 seconds she's usually over-played
her welcome. * * * Actually the film has shown us it's best
stuff and laid everything out for us with it's first 20 minutes.
The rest of the mercifully short film plays out everything in
the most predictable and obvious ways possible. The pacing is
energetic and fast and some of the slapstick level comic bits
are amusing. * * * If you find yourself watching the film, you
might not find it as horrid and cringe inducing as you originally
imagined. |
| Image
and Sound |
The film
has been given a top notch anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer. Bright
and contrasting colors are often used in the film and it would
seem that black levels, and color saturation levels are all
where they should be. The film looks very crisp, clear and is
free from anything more than the occasional glimpse of edge
enhancements or blown out whites or shimmering reds. The picture
remains remarkably stable throughout. * * * Sound wise you get
both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 soundtracks. The volume of the
mix is a bit low but the dialogue is well separated from the
frequent soundtrack songs and loud sound effects and back ground
noise that occurs. There's nothing that will blow you away here.
Not a great deal of creativity or extra effort has been used
which is a shame since the plot of the film concerns subliminal
messages buried in music. Oh well… no one thought to have any
fun with the idea when it came time for the DVD. Too bad. |
| The
Extras |
You'll find
the all fluff documentary Backstage Pass a 24 minute promotional
making of featurette which contains a couple interesting minutes
concerning the costumes and fashions used in the film (costume
designer is Leesa Evans). * * * As previously mentioned the
3 deleted scenes are actually two extended scenes and one deleted
scenes. These are short and of minor interest. * * * There are
music videos of the Josie and the Pussycats' "3 Small Words"
--which is a full blown video which got some MTV exposure. *
* * There is also a mock video which is pretty funny of the
very inappropriate Du Jour boy band mock-hit "Backdoor Lover"
* * * |
| Commentary |
I was curious
to hear what Director/writers Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont,
and Producer Marc Platt would talk about during their feature
length commentary. They apparently believe they have made a
good, and somewhat mis-understood film. It's interesting to
listen to their stories of how hard everyone worked on the production
of the film. To hear them tell it, you might think they actually
sacrificed a lot of time and effort and endured some real hardships
to bring this to the screen. Oh but wait.. they also had a lot
of fun doing this movie and it's the infectious quality of the
film that keeps it from being a total disaster of course. They
also talk about all of the nods to other films that are in the
film. . . Woodstock, Spinal Tap of course, and even Annie Hall.
They don't talk as much about the nuts and bolts of the film-making
as I prefer though. Hearing them brag on such a level about
such a mindless film gets tiresome and you may find yourself
with an uncontrollable urge to talk to them while listening
to their overly congratulatory comments. |
| Final
Words: |
Josie and the Pussycats is far from
the worst movie of its type that I have seen and has some
entertainment moments. The film is very schizophrenic. It
wants to appeal to teenagers very badly but it also wants
to appeal to baby boomers and offers satire and obvious messages
about fads and trends. It shows most teenagers (except Josie
and her band-mates) in a very unflattering light. Many teens
will feel insulted and alienated with how they are portrayed.
It's also taking shots at such obvious targets and does not
go anywhere with the jokes that Spinal type has not already
been which means baby boomers will get tired of the obvious
and easy jokes. The presentation of the film is top notch
but the DVD package lacks the kind of material that would
really appeal to it's targets audience. There is only a few
minutes worth of deleted scenes and no out-takes.
Christopher Jarmick,is the author
of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed,
steamy suspense thriller. For information on Author readings/signings
or availability of special autographed editions of the novel
email: glasscocoon@hotmail for details. Original portions
of this review Copyright© Christopher J. Jarmick 2001. The
above work is protected by international copyright law.
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