She's All That (1999)

Director:

Robert Iscove

Writer (WGA):

R. Lee Fleming Jr. (written by)

Release Date:

29 January 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A new comedy that proves there's more to attraction than meets the eye.

Plot:

A high school jock makes a bet that he can turn an unattractive girl into the school's prom queen.

Plot Keywords:

Prom | Prom Queen | High School | Love | Pygmalion

Awards:

8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Freddie Prinze Jr.	...	Zack Siler
Rachael Leigh Cook	...	Laney Boggs
Matthew Lillard	...	Brock Hudson
Paul Walker	...	Dean Sampson
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe	...	Taylor Vaughan
Kevin Pollak	...	Wayne Boggs
Anna Paquin	...	Mackenzie Siler
Kieran Culkin	...	Simon Boggs
Elden Henson	...	Jesse Jackson
Usher Raymond	...	Campus D.J.
Kimberly 'Lil' Kim' Jones	...	Alex
Gabrielle Union	...	Katie
Dulé Hill	...	Preston
Tamara Mello	...	Chandler
Clea DuVall	...	Misty

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, crude humor, brief strong language and teen drinking.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Netherlands:12 | Netherlands:6 (re-rating) | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:IIA | Norway:7 | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Cerritos, California, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

In one scene, a copy of John Irving's book "The Cider House Rules" is visible in the background behind Kieran Culkin. Culkin played Buster in The Cider House Rules (1999).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Zach looks at his college acceptance letters, the inside addresses shown are those of the colleges. In a real letter, the inside address would be that of the recipient. The school's address would be shown elsewhere on the letterhead.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Laney Boggs: Simon! Simon, I have got your breakfast! Are you up?
Simon Boggs: Give me a couple of minutes.
Laney Boggs: Simon Boggs, there are children in Mexico who have already been up for three hours making clothes for corporate America.

Movie Connections:

Features "Jeopardy!" (1984)

Soundtrack:

Believe

Watchable but unimaginative teen `comedy'

When high school jock Zak is dumped by his prom-queen style girlfriend, he rashly says that he doesn't need her and that any girl he dates will become the prom queen. A friend takes her up on the bet and picks geeky art student Laney. Zak tries to get close with limited success but gradually he begins to get to know her and they become friends – now all he has to do is get her accepted by the jet set.

How many teen movies do we need, with their similar themes of jocks and geeks and the seemingly revolving casts? Here we get yet another retelling of Pygmalion except here it doesn't really convince as a comedy or a story. The plot isn't particularly imaginative and feels lifeless and a little flat as a result like it has no spark of it's own. The other problem is the fact that Laney is actually quite good looking before `the change' – I prefer her look before Zak supposedly made her better.

The film needs to pander to the teen audience so we get the obligatory `gross out' comedy in a few scenes which are funny but outside of that it's really very light melodrama between Zak, Laney and the jocks/cheerleaders.

Prince is annoying but is actually alright here despite having a cardboard jock character. Cook is good as Laney but it's a shame that the film sees some sort of victory of making this geeky arty girl into a beautiful Valley girl type that conforms to the pack. What message does that send out to teenagers? At one point Zak says that he'd rather work with fat or ugly than Laney – but really she is only acceptable because she is pretty and not fat or ugly. The rest of the cast are a range of teen actors who you'll recognise from other films who do nothing out of the ordinary. Usher has a cool cameo – but why did Lil' Kim take a role that was barely a support character? I hate Matthew Lillard with a passion but here he does a good job sending up those reality TV `celebrities' and is very funny in his handful of scenes.

Overall this is an acceptable teen film but really never gets to the point where you could call it more than good. The story lacks spark or imagination and the comedy is either crude or too slight to be funny. It's watchable but it's not all that.