Forgotten Film Friday: Never Been Kissed

A review by Azzam Abdur-Rahman So this is a weird week. As a writer on this film blog I started this series because of a day where I was super depressed I re-watched a film I forgot about. There is often a sense of nostalgia in this series. I am so precious with these moments in film that deeply affected me but very rarely resonated with the world at large. This weekend I didn’t have a film to write from this perspective. I was devoid of something to say because I was saving my mental energy for something coming down the pike here which may or may not have already been dropped. So on a Tuesday night my lovely fiancé says “We are watching Never Been Kissed!” I hope I am known on this film blog as the rom-com guy but that night I wasn’t feeling it. What I was treated to was a charming movie but not a masterpiece. So now you may be asking “what is the point of this then!” The point is Never Been Kissed is an example of a movie you can never make again. Never Been Kissed’s plot lives in an America that is oddly blissful, where crimes are ignored, where true love is all that matters and where the grand romantic gesture still has a place. It is a movie you can see someone in their formative years feeling the same way I did about the earlier films in this series. Now it is a bizarre culture artifact featuring actors we have never seen again (Michael Vartan, Jeremy Jordan) eventual super stars (Jessica Alba, John C Reily) and a straight-up Hollywood royalty (Gary Marshall). It is a movie where the main love interest is a teacher who believes he is falling in love with a child. Where two-twenty something just enroll themselves in high school! That is wildly creepy and if wasn’t for Drew Berrymore this movie wouldn’t have done as well as it did in 1999! But this all of the creepy things that stood out to me became the most interesting part of this movie and it got me thinking! Forgotten Film Friday doesn’t always have to be about shouting out films. I want to shout out how far we have come. Representation has gotten so much better. Film has gotten so much better. Story has gotten so much better and directing has gotten so much better. Films don’t need one charming actor to keep a film afloat anymore. That is something we should be so thankful for. Drew Berrymore is a gem and always will be. She has proven that she can make zombies charming! We now use that as a weapon instead of the crutch of a whole film. For all of our issues with Hollywood has film fans we have to be thankful for that! So before I go I have one more thought about this film that I want to put into the universe. As I stated this movie is creepy. Lowkey creepy but creepy none the less. That made me think what if you remade Never Been Kissed as a slasher film. Not a fan? Well you know what now you don’t get to hear my ideas then! Seriously think about it!!

Comments

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

A retrospective by Brooks Rich Let's kick off the spooky season with a bona fide classic. I love the horror genre, but not much really scares or creeps me out. Most horror films I just watch and enjoy. However, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is one of those that really gets under my skin, and not just because the Sawyer family are eating people. The way Tobe Hooper shoots the film gives it an almost documentary feel. If you have never seen 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' you should probably fix that immediately. Do I need to explain what it's about? A group of '70s kids is driving across Texas in a van and runs afoul of the Sawyer family, including the man himself, Leatherface. It's a classic of the horror genre and one of the pioneers of the '70s and '80s horror boom. The film has a reputation for being sickeningly bloody and violent, but that is not true. It's essentially a bloodless film, which makes it even more horrifying. Most of the violence...

Forgotten Film Friday: Absolute Power

Clint Eastwood stars as Luther Whitney, a jewel thief who works in the Washington DC area. One night while he is stealing from a mansion he is forced to hide in a secret compartment with a two way mirror. From there he observes a sexual rezendevous with the wife of a powerful man and the President of the United States Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) Suddenly the president gets aggressive and while defending herself the woman is shot to death by two Secret Service agents. Luther manages to get away with a letter opener the woman stabbed the president with. At first Luther plans to flee the country. But when he is disgusted by a statement the president makes, Luther decides to expose the crime. I miss these kind of films. The nineties was a great time for thrillers exactly like this. They are not the flashiest films but they are also not obsessed with big action scenes. It's all plot and character with them. Sure this plot might be a little out there but Eastwood makes it work. He's...

John Candy month: Summer Rental

A retrospective by Brooks Rich Air traffic controller Jack Chester (John Candy) is given paid time off when he nearly causes two airline disasters. He takes his family down to Florida for a vacation. Hijinks ensue because its '80s comedy and Candy ends up challenging a pompous Richard Crenna to a yacht race to close out the summer. This is a movie that has been forgotten to time in the grand scheme of Candy's career. Even with Carl Reiner directing it does have the same name recognition as some of Candy's other works. But I think it's a solid entry in his filmography. He plays a great everyman who we have no problem rooting for. The slobs versus snobs relationship he has with Crenna works like a charm and he genuinely seems like a good father and husband. Candy was always great at playing both the everyman and the aloof goofball. Sometimes he'll even play both. His character of Jack Chester in this is a good example of that. At times Jack is the goofy comic relief...

Cinema Basement

Search This Blog