Never Been Kissed

I thought my one-line summary was going to be 'this was a very bad idea', a line spoken by Drew Barrymore's character. At that point in the movie, there were no likeable characters to speak of, except maybe Drew's brother. But Drew's character grew on me. And her brother played a bigger role in the movie's second half. Overall, things started getting better as time went on. And the best acting performance, to me, was that of the actress playing a nerdy kid who became Drew's friend. I was pleasantly surprised to find the name Leelee Sobieski in the credits. She has impressed me before, without my knowing who she was, and she did it again. By the end of the movie, I was feeling pretty good. It didn't have to be quite so dirty, though.

Never Been Kissed is not a perfect movie, but I wasn't expecting that. The story is predictable yet simple and the ending is hokey, but I still liked the film. Why did I? Firstly, Drew Barrymore. There may be people who don't like her, I do and I have since seeing her in Ever After(and that was a wonderful film). Here she does what she does best, which is cute and funny romance, the result is that we are treated to a fun and captivating performance. Secondly, David Arquette is a lot of fun as Barrymore's slightly odd older brother, and I also enjoyed Leelee Sobieski's minor turn here. Michael Vartan is charming in his own way as well. The script does have its humorous moments, the film does have a nice feel-good element to it, the direction is fine and the soundtrack is nice. Overall, an enjoyable movie, not a masterpiece, but just a nice bit of fluff. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I was a freshman in high school when this movie came out and I LOVED it. Maybe it was because I had a huge crush on my English teacher and this was my way of fantasizing a hot teacher falling for one of his students. My 15 year old self didn't understand how unethical that would have been (not to mention illegal), I just thought it was soooo romantic. Fast forward 20 years to rewatching it with my husband and it was a completely different experience. The premise is still cute and the sad parts are still sad, but I couldn't get past how creepy that teacher was. All she did was read poetry and give smart answers in his class and he was smitten. While my young self got excited every time he gave her gooey eyes, my adult self was shocked that a teacher would act act so inappropriately. If he had been in on the secret, it would have been okay I guess. But all of that with his girlfriend and him getting jealous when she was with other teenagers (also unethical because she was interested in an underaged boy at one point) was just too much for me. I could barely watch it. It could have been a cute movie if it had been written a little bit differently, but wow.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It was charming, funny, and, at times painful. I, however think it was painful to watch because I had such a hard time at high school, and I could relate to this movie.

It reminded me of "Mean Girls" a lot, although this had a softer edge to it.

It was a bit predictable, but, sometimes a good, sweet, romance with a happy ending is what you want in a movie.

The acting was good, and the story was believable-if a bit far-fetched.

The sound track was awesome!

I can't say that I embrace this as a Romantic Comedy, as I found little funny about it. I did find it endearing, entertaining, heartwarming, and terminally sweet, and while there were some witty moments, I found them more bittersweet than outright comedic.

I liked this one. Barrymore has grown so much as an actress, and it's always wonderful to catch her on the big screen, but this translates well to the small screen, too. In fact, on subsequent viewings, I like this one more and more.

If you're a fan of the Romantic Comedy, then you may be a bit put off by lack of comedic effect with this one, but if you're in it for the romance, it's definitely here to be found.

It rates a 7.8/10 from...

the Fiend :.