Issue One, March 2002

a catboy musings review

I can hear you snickering already. You, yes you! Sitting at your computer monitor, your hand cramping from surfing the net for too long, your trigger finger itching on the mouse. That's right, laugh at the boy who likes "Josie and the Pussycats".

By all rights, I should have hated this movie. I am cringing at the thought of Freddie Prinze Jr and a computer generated dog ruining my love of Scooby Doo, so Josie and the Pussycats should have also been avoided at all costs. An ex-roommate would have been able to testify to the fact that when Channel Seven repeated the series Josie and the Pussycats in Outerspace in 1997 (a worthy sequel by all counts, hope to see it in film form soon!) I was up every morning at 7.30 to tape it. Unfortunately, that prized possession was lost when I moved house.

But the television commercials sucked me in. Catchy pop music! Parker Posey, always worth the price of a cinema ticket! Surely there would be a few good laughs to while away a Saturday afternoon!

Well, there were. But it was a Sunday afternoon when I saw it. Not that that is really relevant. I am unsure of why this film has received so many vitriloic reviews - it doesn't pretend to be anything else than what it is: a light-hearted cheesy comedy flick. Sure, it tries to screw with the formula by adding a satiric bent (which isn't successful at all times), but I'd much rather watch a flawed film that tries something different rather than a paint-by-numbers by-the-book piece of mediocrity.

It is the simple tale of three girls (Josie, Val and Melody) who want to hit the big time with their pop-rock band. They are speedily signed to a recording contract by a monolithic company, unaware that they are really part of a conspiracy to control the young people of the world through their spending habits.

What sells this film is the chemistry between the actors. Rachel Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson and Tara Reid have a sense of history between them that isn't always apparent in most teen flicks. Tara Reid, of whom I've never been a fan, is the perfect bubble-headed but kindly Melody. They match their cartoon originals perfectly. The other selling point is the continual dig at the music industry and the manipulation of their buying public. Teen dream sensations 'NSync and the Backstreet Boys are parodied by the fictional DuJour whose lyrics include the classic lines "I'm your backdoor lover/coming from behind with the lights down low" while their girlie audience scream along unawares. Other reviews have pointed out the overabundance of product placement. Yes, it is satarising product placement itself, but it is disconcerting to see so many products and logos in one scene. But when I look around me as I write, I note that there is a can of PepsiMax by my side, CocoPops on the bench, appliance logos shine brightly and conspicuously... logos are everywhere (ironically, Naomi Kleins book No Logo is on my coffeetable). It's just that we're not used to seeing them flooding the silverscreen all at once. The movie is making a point, and isn't it better that a cheesy teen flick attempts to educate an audience about an issue than not at all?

But maybe that explains Josie and the Pussycats' bad box office.

It didn't deserve it. Give the film a chance. You may be pleasantly surprised.

catboy musings rating:

4 paws/5

(side note: our australian dvd release neglected to give us the director's commentary that america did, thus preventing us from getting an insight into the filmmaker's perspective. boo! hiss!)