I was sat watching TV, waiting a TV show to start, with twenty minutes to spare I stuck with the channel I had on and "Never Been Kissed" a romantic comedy film from 1999 starring Drew Barrymore, John C. Reilly, David Arquette, Leelee Sobieski, Jessica Alba, and James Franco in his film debut came on. I ended up drawn in and watched the full thing and missing my TV show.Plot In A Paragraph: Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) works for the Chicago Sun-Times. One day, her editor-in-chief, Rigfort (Garry Marshall) assigns her to report undercover at a high school to help parents become more aware of their children's lives. Her first day back at High School is miserable. Josie reverts to the old geek self that ruined her first high school life. She also has a run-in with three horrible popular girls (one of them Jessica Alba). Josie loses hope, but is reassured when a kind-hearted nerd girl named Aldys (Leelee Sobieski) befriends her.Drew Barrymore is OK as is David Arquette (if you can subscribe to a world where they can pass as High School students). Jessica Alba is not required to do anything other than look cute and stare disapproving whilst John C. Reilly. But for me, Leelee Sobieski is the stand out performer as Aldys. She shines in every scene and I fond the movie poorer when she was not involved after Josie predictably ditches her for the "cool kids" It's silly, routine, predictable, cliché and unoriginal. but I enjoyed it for the most part, especially early on when Sobieski was involved more.Normally I'd have given this a 5/10 as whilst sweet at times it was average with a lot of faults, but I'm giving it an extra bonus point for Sobieski.

If you are in the need to watch a clichéd film I think this would top the list. In all honesty the major issue that I have with the film is the sheer predictability that it is overweight with. Drew Barrymore tries to fit into the role only barely managing to do so despite her attempts to fit in as the geeky turned cool kid. The supporting cast is decent with the occasional stars that outshine. The back story is stale and suffers from a lack of research on the writers parts. For a late Friday night watch the film managed to keep me awake with the occasional laughs here and there. There were a lot of comparisons drawn with Fast times at Ridgemont High and having to choose between the two I would have chosen the latter.The music is below average with the soundtrack not really adding to the storyline. By the end of the film you will be probably be betting that you could have written a better script than the dude who wrote the script for this film.Seven stars primarily because it's not a bad film. It's just not top of the league. Having watched all of John Hughes teen comedies I really don't think I can really give this film more than seven stars.

I do not write reviews about very many movies. Only when one has touched me, either inspiring me or provoking me. Never Been Kissed is one of the worst, most mean-spirited movies I have ever seen. I would hate anyone if they had done this to Drew Barrymore, who we all love, but alas, she voluntarily accepted this part. I was going to go along with the plot when she said she was going "undercover" back to high school for the newspaper piece, but when I heard that, I thought, "Oh. A returning student in her twenties. It happens. Shouldn't be too traumatic. The cruelty and naivety of what happens in the film, however, was too much to bear, as this twenty (or thirty) something tries to act not like a 16-17 year old, but a drunken 5 year old. The moment when the teacher asked her if she was really 17 was excruciating. The gym class scene was heart-breaking, all the more so because it was Drew Barrymore, who, as in most of her films, plays a character with a tender, sensitive disposition. This was a perverse film, full of emotional sadism on the part of the other students and inexcuseable naivety on the part of Ms Geller. After the insults and pain she had experienced in high school (the first time), she should have returned ready and willing to devastate the opposition with her knowledge, education and experience. Besides the ethics and legality issues involved in obtaining personal information from minor children under false pretenses, this film actually gives us stern warning about ambition, self-delusion, deceipt and imitation. How many people will we lie to for money, mis-representing ourselves and for how long? What is the price we pay when the punishment that we are begging for comes to be? What is our pleasure when tender hearts are devoured by other's egoism and self-absorption?

Like Drew's character, as she stated in the voice-over in her article at the end, I have never fully recovered from what happened to me back in high school. That was over a quarter-century ago! I'm 44, married and have a beautiful daughter with my best friend, my wife! I left the state I grew up in for the final time in 1999; to this date, never to return. Unfortunately, the bitches and bastards who tortured Drew; and later the same ones who nearly succeed in torturing Sobieski are all too commonplace in real life! In a sense, I should congratulate myself for the very fact that I'm alive! If my nemeses had succeeded in their goals, I would be long dead! They tried valiantly to drive me to suicide! Some of those same people went on to succeed to a reasonable degree in adult life. This may sound evil and un-Christian, but I found out that one of the girls who gave me the most grief in junior/senior high school is now a drug addict and has several mugshots available for view on line. Apparently, she has committed a lot of fraud offenses to get money for drugs. I smiled from ear to ear and jumped for joy when I realized the tables had turned! One guy is now a crooked public servant in a major Kentucky city and also an obsessive body builder. He's more than likely still a sadistic and evil horse's ass! Again, it may sound ugly and un-Christian, but I would jump for joy and dance in the street if I found out he somehow died -- violently, at that!Back to the movie: I think the Barbie bitches and the hunks got off far too easy! I'd like to have seen Jessica Alba's boyfriend, the one with the dog food can in his hand, get his arm broken since his intent was to use it to humiliate poor Leelee!! Unfortunately, I'd still like to see that comeuppance be delivered to the real-life meanies (Barbies and hunks alike)! Just the image, real or imagined, of the nerd triumphing over the bully, and I mean standing tall over the crumpled figure of the bully, spirit broken beyond repair, still appeals to me!