Product Description

THE HIGH ENERGY STORY ABOUT THREE NEWLY DISCOVERED SMALL-TOWN MUSICIANS WHO GET TANGLED UP IN AN EVIL PLOT TO CONTROL THE YOUTH OF AMERICA. A PSYCHOTIC STUDIO EXECUTIVE IS MANIPULATING THE LUCRATIVE TEEN MARKET BY MIXING SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING MESSAGES INTO THE MUSIC OF HER BANDS.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80592 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2001-11-20
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
"Oh my God, I'm a trend pimp!" cries rocker Josie McCoy (Rachel Leigh Cook) when she discovers that she and her best friends Melody (Tara Reid) and Val (Rosario Dawson)--collectively known as the Pussycats--have been recruited in a plot to brainwash America's youth into a frenzy of mindless consumerism. Unbeknownst to the Pussycats, subliminal messages in their chart-topping hit "Pretend to Be Nice" are forcing kids to follow the latest prefab trends as if their lives depended on it. Josie's going to be the Next Big Thing, and to her manager (Alan Cumming) and Megarecords mogul Fiona (Parker Posey), the other Pussycats are expendable baggage in their scheme to dictate the cool quotient of teenagers everywhere.

Shrewdly concocted by codirectors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, this wildly comedic update of the Archie comic book (and early-'70s cartoon show) is a deliriously entertaining assault on pop-cultural flotsam, with a disposable boy-band (aptly named "Du Jour") and cross-product marketing ploys that perpetuate blind conformity among gullible teens. Blatant product placements dominate virtually every colorful scene as Josie gamely embraces the cultural blight it claims to criticize, but this isn't Hollywood hypocrisy. Elfont and Kaplan willfully bite the hand that feeds them, and they're having loads of fun while advocating independent opinion. Cook and her pals are more honestly sexy than Britney Spears, and they make genuinely catchy music (although Cook's vocals were dubbed). It's pure fluff, but Josie and the Pussycats was conceived in such high spirits that it's hard to imagine how it could be improved. Even the obligatory end-credit outtakes are utterly irresistible. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A teen movie that's something of a put-on. A milquetoast record promoter (Alan Cumming) and his bitchy boss (Parker Posey) implant messages in pop songs which tell young America which clothes to buy and stars to like (e.g., "Heath Ledger is the new Matt Damon"). Into their clutches stumble Josie and the Pussycats, of Archie Comics fame, and, thanks to subliminal suggestion, the band's songs soon top the charts. Throughout all the major-chord fun, the writing and directing team of Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan continually wink at the audience. Corporate logos (Starbucks, Target, Revlon) are pasted everywhere; a rebellious record-store employee gets kidnapped by an MTV van; the Manhattan skyline is accessorized with supersized McDonald's arches. These games are fine and frequently hilarious, but they spring from a one-note cleverness; what could have been a lark becomes another hollow display of irony. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Surprizingly clever movie
I went to this movie expecting nothing more than to watch Rachel Leigh Cook (Josie) and Tara Ried (Mel) dance around on stage in skimpy outfits. Imagine my surprise one of the funniest opening scenes I have ever seen! From the boy band named "Du Jour" (I guarantee my roommate and I were the only 2 people in the entire theatre filled with 13 year old girls who got that joke) and their hit single "Backdoor Lover" to the rediculous product placements and government conspiracy to put subliminal messages and advertisements in our music, thereby controlling trends and keeping teenagers buying the next best thing. Younger viewers who don't necissarily get the humor will enjoy the music and the unbelieveable plotline and love story while older viewers will enjoy the hilarious and almost plausible hyperbole of the conspiracy.

Excellent Satire, Very Intelligent Film
I never saw Josie and the Pussycats for the longest time--the previews made it look like one of the many teen, self-actualization movies where girls from Small-town, USA, beat the odds and achieve their dreams as rock-stars. Ugh. Oh, but how wrong was I and almost everyone else who chose not to see the film...

This film is a critique on modern music and the way everything has become corporate. But don't let the depth of this film turn you away if you're just looking for something entertaining. This movie has tons of that too. It's perhaps the funniest satire I've seen in years (Alan Cumming is the man), and you will know why this is during the opening scene of the film on the airplane. ("Take the Chevy to the Levy"--brilliant.)

Keep an eye out for all the product placement in the movie, too--the studio received exactly no compensation for them. It's all a part of the bigger joke, which I won't spoil here. (A joke that is RIDICULOUS in the extreme sense of the word, but you'll love the writers for it.)

Acting is great, pacing is excellent, music is awesome, and why are you still reading this review? Click "Add to Cart."

If you still have your doubts, go out and rent this film. (Be sure to get the PG-13 version of the film.) Believe me, though, that there's a really good chance that this will end up on your shelf before long.

Deeply Underated Satire/Romantic Comedy...
I am astonished that this film has been so undeservingly underated. It strikes me that certain people went along with the intention of having an utterly miserable time if they saw anything less brilliant than 'Citizen Kane', then took enormous pleasure in savaging this film when it failed to reach their vast expectations. Frankly if you are so through an elitist in films that the thought of teenage or 20ish characters (God forbid) or their brand of pop culture makes you break out into a hysterical fit of ranting, then you should have known better than to stay away from this.

DuJour are an utterly devestating parody of a boyband, and understandably much of the first half-hour is spent in their shadow. Still our introduction to the Pussycats is well done, and easily establishes their current standing. Rachael Leigh Cook, a stunning actress with the largest eyes I have ever seen, is nicely done here. To anyone who would doubt her comedic talent - or lack of interest there in - just watch her eye movements in her first scene with Alan M. Maybe, and I confess I am not an expert, she is different from the cartoon Josie, but by all accounts that is a good thing. In the cartoons I hear she was a nonentity, here she is the core character of the film. While Tara Reid's Melody is perhaps funnier, Josie is still the centre and Rachael Leigh Cook does it well. The other Pussycats have similar good moments, though shorter than Josie's.

Alan Cumming simply lights up the screen whenever he appears. While we are required to actually like Josie, Mel and Val (and they are in fact very likeable) Cummings Whyatt Frame is under no such constraints and it is entirely suitable that he is the only character to break the fourth wall. Posey Parker is almost as good as Cumming, but odder yet. She is good fun in the film, though not as purely fantastic as Cumming.

The supporting cast are okay. Paulo Costanzo as the Pussycats hopeless manager Alexander Cabot III is the best, but Missi Pyle, Gabriel Mann, Tom Butler and especially Alexander Martin, are all very good.

I'm amazed that so many people seem to have either not realised the product placement was part of the films joke, or have realised it, but decide to hold it against them anyway. The gag does become a little cloying after a while, but it does slow down a bit in the final half hour, and is never too distracting. If you found the product placement scene in Waynes World funny, this should cause you no trouble.

The music is of course down to personal taste, but I found some of it at least pretty good, and nothing more unmemorable than any other film track. '3 Simple Words' and 'Pretend to be Nice' are viable singles in their own right, and you will never be able to listen to a boyband again after 'Backdoor Lover' and 'DuJour around the World'. Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson do at least provide backing for their own songs, which is something.

Overall I would say that this was one of the most underated films of 2001 and the least deserved flop. What kind of sick world is it where 'The Mummy Returns' is more popular than 'Josie...?' Watch it.

Yours

~Ross