Never Been Kissed (4 Stars)

"There is a big world out there, bigger than proms, bigger than high school, and it won't matter if you were the prom queen or the quarterback of the football team or the biggest nerd in school. Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it".

This is the sixth film starring Leelee Sobieski, made in 1999 when she was still 15. Interestingly, she plays a character who is 17 years old. As you can see in the photo above, she looked older than 15. She had already reached her full height of 5'10" and towered over Drew Barrymore, who is only 5'3".

When Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) was 17 she was the ugly girl in school. She didn't fit in. She'd never had a boyfriend, and she didn't even have a date for the prom. Now she's 25 and works as a journalist. She doesn't look ugly any more, but she's plain and forgettable. And she still hasn't had a boyfriend. She dreams of her magical first kiss, but her expectancies are so high that it looks like it will never happen.

Josie is given an assignment to return to high school posing as a 17-year-old to write a story about schools today. She's not as ugly as she used to be. Her face isn't as spotty and she's lost weight, but she still doesn't fit in. She's still an outsider. The only friend she makes is Aldys (Leelee Sobieski), the president of the school's Mathematics club, the Denominators.

Josie might not fit in with her classmates, but there's still a romance. She develops a crush on her English literature teacher. He also feels attracted to her, but he keeps his distance because he thinks she's only 17. It's an awkward relationship.

This is beautiful little high school comedy. I enjoyed it, even though Leelee doesn't play the main role.

A newspaper is shown in the film. It isn't completely legible, but it's clear enough to see that the same blocks of text are used as in "A Horse for Danny" and "Basic Instinct". The paragraph beginning with the words "Future plans" is repeated in the second, third and fourth columns. Sloppy.