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Never Been Kissed

Never Been Kissed

Romance · Comedy · Drama · 1999

Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.

Movie details

Never Been Kissed

“Some things are worth waiting for.”

1999 Romance · Comedy · Drama 1h 47m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Never Been Kissed?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Raja Gosnell

Written by

Marc Silverstein · Abby Kohn · Jenny Bicks

Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore

Josie Geller

David Arquette

David Arquette

Rob Geller

Molly Shannon

Molly Shannon

Anita

Michael Vartan

Michael Vartan

Sam Coulson

Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba

Kirsten

John C. Reilly

John C. Reilly

Gus Strauss

James Franco

James Franco

Jason

Court is in session

Put Never Been Kissed on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.