Along with Napster, Harry Potter and Y2K panic, teen rom-coms were all the rage in 1999.
It’s unclear if a certain sect of screenwriters got together and agreed that the waning years of the millennium were the time to churn out delightful fare for the underage set, but between 10 Things I Hate About You, Varsity Blues, Cruel Intentions and She’s All That it was quite the time to be in high school and dreaming wistfully of first loves and perfect prom dates.
Albeit somewhat disturbing to realize that a bespectacled Rachael Leigh Cook and a poorly attired Drew Barrymore are what pass for impossibly nerdy in Hollywood.
Such was the premise for Never Been Kissed. Barrymore’s Josie Geller is the youngest editor at the Chicago Sun-Times with a penchant for correcting her colleagues’ grammar (which, respect), but, perhaps, not yet possessing all of the skills necessary to land the reporting job of her dreams. Then, apropos of nothing, her editor-in-chief instructs her to go undercover at nearby South Glen South and write about her semester in high school.
