Josie and the Pussycats

Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan

Starring: Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, Tara Reid, Alan Cumming, Parker Posey

From: Universal/MGM

Yep, I watched this movie; I might look like I watched it because of the leads and how they are hot rocker girls. OK, that was part of it but I also wanted to see it as I've heard quite a bit about it in the past.

Before I get to that, though, I have to mention one thing: a reason why this is going up at this hour is that I had to at 10 PM watch Ms. Cook and her debuting new drama, Perception; it's on TNT and she's an FBI agent who recruits her old pal, a college professor (Will from Will & Grace) who happens to be schizophrenic so he has visions and they happen to help him out on the various cases. Wacky, I know, but I managed to like it. And no, not because of who was the lead lady nor how at the end there was a brief bit where a random college-aged girl took off her top and you got to see the amply-endowed lady wearing just a bra. Rather, it's when Rachael (i.e. Kate Moretti) apprehends a fleeing subject who happens to be a fat dude by doing something that made me laugh uproariously; she jumped from a second story fire escape and flew as if she was Superfly Jimmy Snuka and squashed the guy... and his blubber must have been a great cushion as she was 100 percent fine after that big leap. Awesome. A nice way to end an evening of RACHAELAPALOOZA; don't ask me why it took me a few weeks to come up with that.

Now, onto this film... I'll give the brief plot description straight from the IMDb: A girl group finds themselves in a middle of a conspiracy to deliver subliminal messages through popular music in this send-up of the music industry and pop culture.

The movie itself, what a unique and odd beast it is. It's rather loud and gaudy and in your face and certainly not subtle, especially with some of the acting; you see many bright colors and it moves so fast, I swore that by the end it felt like everything in the film just about gave me a coke-high! At least I presume that's what a coke-high feels like. To give a less blunt comparsion, maybe it's like after you pound down some energy drinks and eat Cheetos and listen to a bunch of dubstep. It fired me up. And yet it's not only a teen comedy sort of thing but it actually satirizes pop culture and the music industry by saying that there's a bunch of subliminal messages and advertising going on which tells the young people what to like, what to listen to, and what to buy. Like I said, pretty odd overall but...

I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. No, it's not for such things as noticing that in one scene one girl was obviously not wearing a bra, or anything like that. Rather, I couldn't help but enjoy this wacky yet fun film. It's usually pretty funny, I certainly liked what they were satirizing, and the music is fine too. It's not a surprise something like this didn't do so hot at the box office; I didn't go and see it on the big screen; in hindsight, what a fail for me not to have seen any of Rachael's movies on the big screen in the past, but that is another topic for another day. Still, I am glad it was made and I am glad I finally saw it. If you do check it out, you'll probably enjoy Cumming's performance, as he was usually quite amusing.

I'll be back Wednesday night and it will be a more low-key film; not that this is a hard thing to do...