Josie and the Pussycats (2000) Re-Visit

So on my birthday 2 weeks ago I got a chance to revisit a film from 2000. It was very entertaining but was largely ignored at the time it was released. A little over a year ago I had a chance to attend a screening that was largely a party at the Paramount Theater celebrating Josie and the Pussycats. As it is, I was just celebrating my birthday with the Pussycats this time.

I've said it before, this film was way too clever for its own good. People misread it as a simple teen comedy, which it is to some degree, but it is also a sharp satire on the music industry, the media, and even the movie industry and its obsession with product placement. It is witty and sharp and full of jokes that will pass you by if you're not paying close attention. The opening of the film is loaded with shots at the commercialization of filmmaking because everything is branded.

The deeper pleasure in Josie and the Pussycats however is the music. The songs by this faux band are so upbeat, clever and tuneful that it's hard for me to understand how they weren't all hits, much less how they were ignored at the Academy Awards that year for best song which they were certainly more deserving of than what really won. 

I posted on this movie before and you can read about that here. and here.  I just want to celebrate one more time the fact that this movie exists, and that it evokes good memories from 25 years ago. I went to see it with my daughter and she was just a tween when we saw it the first time. She's now a grown woman and she made the effort to secure tickets for us so that we had something special to do on my birthday, thanks hon.