Josie and the Pussycats Review
by Tim Wick

Last year, a whole bunch of people I know decided to go see Mission to Mars on opening night. The reason we went as a group was because we fully expected the film to stink and we wanted to make sure that we could spend time making fun of it afterwards. The film was as bad (even worse) than expected. Dinner, however, was a blast as we spent two hours lambasting the film and it's numerous shortcomings.

Ever since, we have been searching for another such film that will allow for countless hours of venomous fun. Josie and the Pussycats looked to be just the ticket.

So we made plans to see the film with high hopes we could spend hours complaining about how bad it was. Then we watched it.

<sigh>

I......(insert mousy voice) really kind of liked it.

The movie is a blatantly self referential satire that works on about the same level as Charlie's Angels. I liked the latter film more, but this one owes so much to that movie it even refers to Barrymore, Liu and Diaz playing Josie and the Pussycats.

I'm a bad critic, I know. I mean, Roger Ebert thought the film stunk. Of course he also hated Charlie's Angels and I think he's wrong about that one, too. Am I just young enough to get the hipness of the film and just old enough to find the satire entertaining or am I just too dumb to see why Roger hated it?

In fairness, this one has split critics right up the middle. Rotten Tomatoes has critics split right up the middle, with 51% liking it and 49% hating it. I can only speak for the people I went to the movie with. We all fall in the 20 - 35 age range and to a person we found the film delightful. And the ultimate measure of popular opinion, the Internet Movie Database currently has the film scored above a 7.

Take that Roger.

Fact is, this film succeeds where last year's Grinch failed. At it's core, the movie is an impeachment of product tie-ins, crowd mentality and product placement. Where I think it offends people is in the fact that it blatantly places products throughout the film (the Evian sign in the whale tank was a particular favorite). A cynic would point out that the film is doing the very thing it is making fun of. A realist would point out that the joke isn't nearly as funny if the viewer doesn't recognize the product. To put it another way, all those red Target ads drive the point home much better than a bunch of red "bullseye" ads would.

Rachel Lee Cook plays Josie and she is just cute enough to pull it off. I somehow doubt she can play the guitar and although the credits say she was one of the people singing, I'm guessing her voice wasn't the one I could hear most clearly. That really doesn't matter. Josie comes off as a wide - eyed innocent who seems incapable of recognizing that sometimes things are just too easy (oh, she notices, but then she ignores it). If anything, the only thing that doesn't quite work is a portion of the film where Josie turns ugly. Cook is just too cute to believe and we know it won't take long for her to snap out of it. But for a popcorn and bubble gum movie, you should expect little else.

Tara Reid plays drummer Melanie and Rosario Dawson is bass player Valerie. Although they have their share of screen time, they kind of have one note characters to play. Reid is the ditz (her shower song is particularly amusing) and Valerie is the second fiddle who is suffering from a inferiority complex. They do a good job, but aren't really expected to do much.

The real scene stealers are Parker Posey as the wicked Fiona and Alan Cumming (just off a great role in Spy Kids) as her sidekick Wyatt Framme. Posey is part of the satire as she shows up in a film that makes fun of every reason why she tends to stick to Indy films. One has to assume that is why she took the role, because typically her stuff can only be found at the Uptown or the Lagoon. Her outfits are so bizarre, we know there is more to her than just the sinister plot she is running.

Josie and the Pussycats

Four Beakers
(out of five)

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