Josie and the Pussycats

Josie and the Pussycats
April 11, 2001
Universal
Comedy, Musical
DVD
B+

This movie was much misunderstood at the time, but I found it delightful then and I find it delightful now.  In fact, I still laugh really hard at the opening scene of boy band Du Jour greeting the crowd at the airport, as they lip-sync to their hit "Backdoor Lover," which is about exactly what you think it's about.  Although the movie can't sustain this giddiness, the tone of slyness and irreverence has been set.  Based as this is on an Archie comics spin-off (and two '70s Saturday morning cartoons), this really shouldn't be any better than Spice World, but it includes-- along with very catchy pop music and brightly colored costumes and sets-- the following:

• A cute and charismatic trio as the leads: Rachel Leigh Cook as Josie, Rosario Dawson as Valerie, and Tara Reid as Melody
• A very nice sismance between Josie and Val
• The aforementioned Du Jour, with Seth Green and two guys from Clueless (Donald Faison and Breckin Meyer), one of whom has a monkey named Dr. Zaius.
• Parker Posey and Alan Cumming as the scene-chewing villains
• Missi Pyle coming close to stealing the movie, even if she's playing a character (Alexandra) who is only there because "I was in the comic."  Her delivery on the line accusing Josie of sleeping with Mr. Moviefone is classic.  (And now I guess it's one of the more dated jokes, since no one calls up to find movie times anymore.)
• Over-the-top product placement, which the film-makers didn't make a dime on
• A Eugene Levy cameo (as himself, "the actor") at a time when he seemed to be in every other movie out there
• A hip/nerd sensibility with music jokes for more than one generation, not just about then current pop but about the Captain & Tennille (and Chief)
• A subliminal-message message that is itself mocked
• A reference to Cumming's character in Romy and Michele 

Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan co-wrote A Very Brady Sequel as well, but this time they also direct.  Corinne Reilly, who's the Aquarium Tour guide here, would be a Reporter in Legally Blonde.

Clueless

The now iconic poster

Clueless
July 19, 1995
Paramount
Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

The same boyfriend that I saw Party Girl with also invited me to this movie.  He most enjoyed the skateboarding sequence, and I wished I had someone to discuss the Jane Austen parallels with.  Luckily, some of the savvier reviews got that this was a modernized, Beverly Hills version of Emma.  Not in every detail (there's no Jane Fairfax for instance), but with enough to have fun spotting.  E.g. Cher (the Emma character, played by Alicia Silverstone) and her best friend Dionne (sort of Mrs. Weston, played by Stacey Dash) are both named after pop-singers, so it's a nice touch that Mr. Elton becomes Elton (as in Elton John).

In retrospect, the parallels seem obvious, but you have to remember that this was just before the Jane Austen revival of the mid to late '90s.  And a teen movie was the last place I expected to find such parallels.  The Austenisms aside, the movie remains a sweet, witty, slightly naughty, very '90s romp.  It was made in partial reaction to grunge (the scene of the boys in backwards baseball caps and baggy pants remains classic, especially since now many of those boys are now middle-aged and still wearing their caps like that), and also as a post-'80s fantasy of various parts of LA.  The vocabulary was close enough to the Val-speak of my own adolescence a dozen years earlier that I could follow it pretty well, although it might seem foreign to those from other backgrounds.

Written and directed by Amy Heckerling, it is both miles from Johnny Dangerously in setting and theme, and not entirely unlike.  Both movies have protagonists who are on top of the world and about to fall, yet still going to come out on top.  They also both have wonderful supporting performances that almost steal the show from the charismatic leads.  And they're both very quotable.

I must note that all three of my 1995 movies have a colorful, happy, and gay-friendly vibe.  This is not how the '90s are necessarily remembered, and it's definitely not true of my '96ers.  But these three embrace a retro, cheerfully defiant attitude, while acknowledging the cynicism of the larger culture.  Also, as in The Brady Bunch Movie, the proliferation of cell phones in LA is used for humor that has dated immeasurably.

Paul Rudd, then 26, makes his big-screen debut as Josh, the Mr. Knightley character, if Mr. Knightley were a smart but slightly pretentious college student who listens to "complaint rock" and briefly grows "chin pubes."  (I told you this was very '90s.)  He would immediately become one of my movie crushes, and remain so these two decades.  We will definitely be seeing more of him.

This time, Dan Hedaya plays Cher's father, Mel Horowitz, cast against type as he was in Tune in Tomorrow....  Julie Brown as Ms. Stoeger, the lesbian PE teacher, is nothing like her character in Earth Girls.  Donald Faison, who's Murray, and Breckin Meyer, who's Travis Birkenstock, would both be Du Jour members in Josie and the Pussycats.  Much of the cast would go on to the Clueless TV series, which ran for three years.

Carl Gottlieb, who's the Priest here, was Dr. Magnus in Johnny Dangerously.  Bobbie Sunday Starr, Passenger in Jeep here, gave Marcia a dirty look in The Brady Bunch Movie.  Aida Linares, who's Lucy the maid here, would be Theresa in The First Wives Club.

"Kind of a Baldwin"?  As if!  Much cuter than Stephen et al.