Josie and the Pussycats
Josie and the Pussycats
PG-13 | 06 April 2001 (USA)
Josie and the Pussycats Trailers

Josie, Melody and Val are three small-town girl musicians determined to take their rock band out of their garage and straight to the top, while remaining true to their look, style and sound. They get a record deal which brings fame and fortune but soon realize they are pawns of two people who want to control the youth of America. They must clear their names, even if it means losing fame and fortune.

Reviews
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Supelice Dreadfully Boring
TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
andressolf I don't know what is wrong with you people who gave this a 5 and below. What were you watching? Or missing rather? Everything is the answer to the latter. The script is not perfect and unwinds a tiny bit in the last half hour of the movie- but other than that the direction, cuts, angles, timing, graphics, and acting are all top notch! When I saw this movie I wanted to know WHO directed it because I found their style really effective for this movie and rare! The directing talent of this movie is rare in that it seemed very comic-book stylized- like they followed well drawn story boards perfectly. As I said, the cuts (transitions) from one interesting camera angle to the next created a nice flow- and the voice acting and expressions were for the most part all good. The story is rather simple but so many other movies have simple stories and fail- i thought this movie had a simple story and succeeded in it's delivery of it. It could have had better character development so that we would care more about the characters- but for some reason I don't expect that nor care for that because it's Josie and the Pussycats for crying out loud! The only silly movie I can think of that had good character development was Austin Powers- where it showed Dr. Evil's childhood and background and gave you a sense of why he was evil. That was good. he was a well developed evil villain. Had this movie shown the background of the background perhaps it would have added a needed level of depth. But overall I enjoyed this movie enough to give it a 7 out of 10 at least. The poor 5 rating of this movie on IMDb is one of many inaccurate ratings on IMDb. There are many other movies I think are good enough to be a 7 but are rated a 5. It makes me have less faith in this rating system and from now on if I read an interesting synopsis for a movie and it's rated a 5 i am going to watch it anyway! - rendering this site ALMOST useless.
utgard14 What an awesome movie. I suppose I would have to categorize this under guilty pleasure since it seems to not get much love. The rating on IMDb is wrong on a level I can't wrap my head around. This is one of those movies a lot of people, particularly guys, will look at and dismiss it just by its concept. Well, it's their loss as they're missing out on a very fun and funny movie. I'm a straight guy and I enjoy this movie on the face of it. Not for camp value or any other backhanded compliments. This is a well-produced musical comedy with great songs and some biting satire of the music industry and commercialization. The actors are all good and seem to be having a blast. The three leads are especially fun. One of Tara Reid's better movies, with some early Rosario Dawson and "She's All That" herself, Rachel Leigh Cook, both of whom I always like.I've been a big fan of this movie since it was first released. The music is upbeat and catchy. Way better than the average music written specifically for a fictional band or artist in movies. I played the soundtrack to death back in the day and still listen to it when I need a pick-me-up today. It's not just the Pussycats songs that I like but also the parody songs from the boy band Du Jour. I think in years to come Josie and the Pussycats will become a cult favorite. It's too good to go ignored forever. I really hope history vindicates what I consider to be one of the best comedies that came out in the 2000s.
SnoopyStyle This is a parody of the music business based on the comic books. Evil record label Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming) and Fiona (Parker Posey) are putting subliminal commercial messages in with the music of boy band DuJour. When the guys find out, Wyatt literally dumps them in mid air. He quickly signs Josie and the Pussycats (Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, Tara Reid) to replace the lost boy band.The three girls have great chemistry. Rachael Leigh Cook is crazy cute. Rosario Dawson is the edgy sexpot. Tara Reid is the ditzy airhead. Alan Cumming is great as the villain with a wink and a nod. Add to it, they have a couple of catchy tunes. And the movie is actually sending a message... not so subliminally.The boyfriend could be less bland. And quite frankly, writer/director team Deborah Kaplan/Harry Elfont could have pushed the comedy more. It's already wacky in tone. They just needed more jokes.
p-stepien After gaining some street cred I decided to delve into this cartoon inspired idiosyncratic experience with little expectations and much dread given previous attempts at live action versions of childhood favourites Garfield, The Flintstones or Scooby Doo. Nonetheless Josie McCoy (played by the petite Rachael Leigh Cook) and her accompanying kitties - bassist Valerie Brown (Rosario Dawson) and drummer Melody Valentine (Tara Reid) - exceed and entertain to a surprising attempt.Neither playing it straight or going all out goofy, "Josie and the Pussycats" fortuitously creates a wacky world, which plays both into the caper ridden stories of the cartoon, as well as manages to deliver a malleable story accessible for kids of all ages (including those in their mid-life crisis). Fleshed out through a mix of deadpan and silly humour, coupled with some successfully intuitive restraint the cartoon adaptation comes of witty and affable, a far cry from the forced idiocies of their counterparts.Superficially (and somewhat hypocritically) touching on issues of the current era of commercial brainwashing and pop culture, "Josie and the Pussycats" become superstars as part of a dastardly marketing scheme. Within the framework of a story, which is undoubtedly predictable to the fullest, the characters molded with the script are wickedly pleasurable. This especially goes for the ridiculous boy band foursome DuJour, played to hilarious effect by Donald Faison, Breckin Meyer, Seth Green and Alexander Martin, whose brief outings are the crème de la crème of the whole movie. Equally satisfying are Alan Cumming as the devious band manager Wyatt Frame and Parker Posey as despicable me record label mogul Fiona. An additional shout-out has to go however to Tara Reid, who gets the stereotype of an idiotic blonde bombshell to a T, delivering one of the funniest performances I can think of.Given the strength at the back Rachel Leigh Cook and Rosario Dawson come off a bit stale, given their more set and conventional personaes, as if hijacked by the more wackier character deliveries. All in all, despite the generic storytelling and some plodding delivery, "Josie and the Pussycats" turns out to be an unexpected ounce of cartoonesque satisfaction, albeit not anything that comes off as timeless or memorable.