Never Been Kissed

Submerged beneath the trivia of a high school romantic comedy lies the wreck of an interesting idea. A plain girl, called Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore), works as a sub-editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. She wants to write, but her boss won't let her, until she comes up with an idea that clicks. She will go back to high school, where eight years ago she had a humiliating time, pretend to be a student and report all the dirt.

Being a romantic, she's half looking for love. Being a geek, she expects to be rejected. Being a journalist, she is prepared to shop her new friends for a story. Enter dishy English teacher, Sam Coulson (Michael Vartan), and she goes weak in all the wrong places. Her editor, desperate for harder copy, suggests trapping Coulson in a teacher/student sex scandal exposé.

The film is wet behind the ears. Barrymore acts nerdy to retell The Ugly Duckling and make fat girls with braces feel better about themselves. Teenyboppers will think it cool, twentysomethings will throw up. The prom, when it comes, is like a Broadway show. Do they really spend that kind of money on costumes? It's a mad, mad, candy-coloured world.