Film

Why You Need To Watch “Josie and the Pussycats”

I Wasn’t Brainwashed To Write This…I SWEAR!

This last Tuesday night, I was looking for something to watch and had almost run out of options.

My fiancée and I, after much agonizing queue scrolling on streaming services, decided on Josie and the Pussycats, a 2001 film featuring Rachel Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Alan Cumming, and Parker Posey.

I certainly wasn’t expecting much.

It turns out I should have been.

Because this film is actually really, really fun.

Setting the Tone

You have to know that within in the first few minutes of turning this film on, you will see one of the greatest cameos in your life.

One that could only come straight out the early 2000s.

Brecken Meyer, Seth Green, Donald Faison, and Alex Martin appear as members of a band called Du Jour, a boy band parody of the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync.

Now they aren’t in it for very long…(this movie is about Josie and the Pussycats, remember?), but their appearance in the first scene sets the tone. From their argument with their studio exec Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming), a Geddy Lee-look-a-like with a British accent, to the way the band addresses each other like a bunch of spoiled rich musicians, we see that this film isn’t just a cute little repurposed Hanna-Barbera live action film.

No. Not even one bit.

This film is satirical.

And it has screwball comedy elements in similar vein as The Hudsucker Proxy.

Intrigued? Well, let me tell you a bit more without giving anything away.

Music Is A Product

Josie and the Pussycats are three teenage girls that really want to score a record deal.

Within minutes of the film starting, they get just that opportunity. One could say it pretty much falls into their lap.

But is it worth the cost?

Without giving anything away, the offer may be too good to be true, because there’s more to the promises the record companies give than just fame and fortune.

Both Wyatt Frame, the manager of the band/label corporate stooge, and Fiona (Parker Posey), the fabulous and over-the-top head honcho of the label, have other nefarious goals. Ones that involve the US government, subliminal messaging, and population control.

Ok, are you interested now?

I hope so, because I’m not even spoiling anything.

This all happens in the first twenty minutes.

And it gets better from there.

This film is wild, ridiculous, and over-the-top…

And its characters are too.

The Characters…Oh, The Characters

One of my favorite parts about this film is how the characters exemplify cartoonish aspects in live-action form.

I’ve already mentioned Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming), who I feel completely nails his role in this film. As he’s playing this slick, weird, evil British man, you can tell he relishes the role. Every time he opens and closes his cellphone to whisper orders to his underlings, you see the most outlandish example of what every band fears what their manager might actually be.

And then we have Fiona (Parker Posey), wearing alien-like outfits that look like they came off the runway of Neptune’s first fashion show all while acting in a way no normal human would ever act. In fact, she’s your worst nightmare of everything you think of when you see a CEO on the nightly news.

While watching her, you may think to yourself as I did: Surely this is what these people are really like, right? There’s no way they’re human.

Then there’s the Josie and the Pussycats’ drummer, Melody Valentine (Tara Reid). The Wikipedia entry calls her “absent minded.”

But to be honest, calling Melody absent-minded is an insult to absent-minded people.

She’s has both the personality of the happiest golden retriever alive and a hippie flower girl who took too much acid and lost her brain.

Despite all this, she’s absolutely charming. Some of the best comedy comes from her…just being her.

I’m not sure how much of the movement Tara Reid does on screen was directed vs. ad-libbed, but she absolutely dominates every scene she’s in. I can’t tell you how many times I had to pause the movie to laugh until I was able to calm down enough and continue watching.

But it’s not just the characters I love…

Self-Awareness In This Film Is At An All Time High

First, a brief digression. I promise it will be worth your time.

When I watched Wayne’s World at 15 years old, my brain broke a little. Until that point in my life, I didn’t know that films could be so self-aware. I thought making jokes that were that meta was against the rules.

While watching it, I remember looking at my dad, who had introduced me to it, continuously.

With these looks, I asked him: Is this allowed? Can they…can they actually do this?

And if so, WHY AREN’T THERE MORE FILMS LIKE THIS?

After Wayne’s World, I got really into South Park and Kevin Smith movies, such as Clerks, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. They all had that same vibe…and the vibe was this:

“Yeah, we’re going to screw with your perception of what a TV show or a movie can be. And we’re going to make you laugh while we do it.

You cool with that?”

Josie and the Pussycats fits right into that niche for me. In fact, I’d say it shares quite a few parallels with Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back.

From its theming, meta-jokes, commentary on an art industry (Jay and Silent Bob… does with the film industry as Josie…does it with music) and shameless cameos, both films showcase something I absolutely enjoy and I never feel like I get enough of:

Films that don’t take themselves too seriously while also commenting on something more deeply in a creative, unique way.

My Final Sales Pitch

So many films try to be serious, package an important message…

and it falls flat.

Many others try to be funny.

And make me wonder if they should be sued for categorizing themselves as a comedy.

Then there’s Josie and the Pussycats.

This movie is funny, isn’t preachy, and comments on the music industry in a bombastic, fun, and unique way.

Is it amazing? Should it have won an Oscar? Is it one of the greatest films of all time?

No, no, and definitely NO!

It’s a freakin’ live-action adaptation story of a band that appeared in Archie Comics.

But is it way better than it has any right to be? Will you laugh? Will you be entertained?

Yes, yes, and yes.

And in a sea of terrible Netflix made-for-TV movies and Amazon Prime originals, that’s becoming more of a rarity.

So tonight, party like it’s 2001 and watch Josie and the Pussycats.

*mic drop*