Film Reviews

Josie and the Pussycats

• Rating:
• Director: Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan.
• Starring: Rachel Leigh Cooke, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Alan Cumming, Parker Posey.
• Details: US / 98 mins / (12PG).

Based on the comic book, Josie and the Pussycats follows the adventures of a girl band that inadvertently hit the big time. Little do the ladies know - Josie (Leigh Cooke), Melody (Reid) and Valerie (Dawson) - their music is being used by evil record bosses to send subliminal messages out to the kids. Josie and the Pussycats is a mess. Truly directionless, it tries so hard to be clever, but sacrifices any intelligent points in favour of shrill, obvious gags. Certainly not smart or caustic enough to be truly anti-establishment, nor funny enough to be a decent comedy, Josie and the Pussycats flails about in a netherworld of sarcasm and self-serving 'humour'. The performances match the script - Josie and her Pussycats wander through the movie looking cute and little else, while the usually reliable Cumming hams it up like he's the guest of honour at a pork convention. Avoid.

Review by Garreth Murphy