She's All That

She's All That (1999)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Robert Iscove

Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachael Leigh Cook, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Paul Walker

From: Miramax

I know I know, but recently this movie arrived on Netflix Instant and as I've mentioned it before I've never actually seen it before. I only saw some of the popular teen movies that came out in the late 90's when I WAS a teen. Yeah, saying that makes me feel really damn old, but it's true.

You probably already know the plot, based on Pygmalion and adapted into such things as My Fair Lady. Basically, the recently dumped but usually a decent guy Zach Siler (Prinze Jr.) gets into a bet with the D-bag Dean Sampson (Walker) that Zach could turn any girl into a prom queen in six weeks. Dean picks Lainey Boggs (Cook) as allegedly she is so hideous by not wearing makeup but wearing glasses and being anti-social. I know, as everyone has said in the years since then, LOL to the idea that she wasn't already hot even dressing like a geek. Then again, this is a world where a high school has a DJ on campus and the school prom features a “spontaneous” choreographed dance to The Rockafeller Skank, so you're supposed to suspend your disbelief throughout. Anyhow, things then become rather predictable.

Sure, the movie is rather goofy and silly. But it's also a nice movie and charming and it's an easy watch. It certainly has a large cast of familiar faces; besides the people I mentioned already there's Kevin Pollak, Tim Matheson, Gabrielle Union, Lil' Kim back before she tried to literally turn herself white, Dule Hill, Matthew Lillard, Anna Paquin, Kieran Culkin, Usher, and even the guy who became famous for being The Sherminator... some of the people in this cast certainly became more famous after 2000 began.

Really, if nothing else this was quite the nostalgia trip for me. The faces I saw in the cast, the lingo, the songs... it was like going back in time to the halcyon days of yore for me... man. Once again, I felt ancient. But, it was a nice trip down memory lane. So overall I am glad I finally got to see the film, if only for the nostalgia; however, the acting was fine throughout. Yes, even from Paul Walker. There are still other famous movies like this in the late 90's I haven't seen; yeah, even back then I had different tastes from many of my peers. Maybe one day I'll see them, and maybe I won't.

I'll be back Wednesday night.