Josie and the Pussycats (film)
Encyclopedia
Josie and the Pussycats is a 2001 comedy film
released by Universal Studios
and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
. Directed and co-written by Harry Elfont
and Deborah Kaplan
, the film is loosely based upon the Archie
comic of the same name
. The film stars Rachael Leigh Cook
, Tara Reid
, and Rosario Dawson
as the Pussycats with Alan Cumming
, Parker Posey
, and Gabriel Mann
.
The film earned mixed reviews during its release and flopped at the box office.
jobs. When a member of Wyatt's wildly successful boy band
, Du Jour, uncovers one such message and asks Wyatt about it aboard their private jet, Wyatt parachutes out with the pilot, leaving the plane to crash and apparently killing Du Jour.
Wyatt lands just outside the town of Riverdale
, and meets The Pussycats: vocalist/guitarist Josie McCoy, drummer Melody Valentine, and bassist Valerie Brown. As they are struggling financially, they accept Wyatt's offer to a lucrative record deal despite its implausibility. They are flown to New York City where they are renamed "Josie and the Pussycats", much to the girls' discomfort. All goes well and their first single climbs rapidly to the top of the charts, but Valerie grows increasingly frustrated that all media attention is focused on Josie rather than the band as a whole. Melody, too simple to notice the undue attention Josie receives, uses her uncanny behavioral perception and becomes suspicious of Fiona and Wyatt.
Due to Val and Melody's suspicions, Fiona orders Wyatt to kill them; he attempts to do so by sending them without Josie on a fake "appearance" on a badly faked set for the MTV
show Total Request Live
, in which an obviously fake Carson Daly impersonator and the real Carson Daly
assault them with baseball bats (the girls survive due to their attackers' incompetence). Meanwhile, Josie plans to attend a gig at a bar by Alan M, a musician whom she likes, but Wyatt convinces her it was canceled. Instead, Josie listens to a new remix of their latest single, and is brainwashed by subliminal messages into desiring a solo career and seeing Val and Melody as impediments. After an argument with her bandmates, Josie realizes that the music influenced the fight. Her suspicions are confirmed when she uses a mixing board
to make the subliminal track audible, but she is caught by Fiona.
MegaRecords have organized a giant pay-per-view
concert, whereby they plan to unleash their biggest subliminal message scheme yet. They force Josie to perform on stage by threatening to kill Melody and Valerie. The badly injured members of Du Jour appear just in time to stop Wyatt and Fiona from completing their scheme. In the resulting fight, Josie destroys the machine used to make the messages. The message for the concert is revealed not to promote the band, the label, or a corporate sponsor, but to make Fiona popular. Fiona suffers a breakdown and reveals that she had been an outcast in high school who spoke with a lisp
. Wyatt reveals that his appearance is a disguise - that he went to the same high school as Fiona, but was a persecuted and unpopular albino nicknamed "White-Ass Wally". Fiona and Wyatt fall in love. The government agents (shown earlier in collusion with Fiona) arrive; because the conspiracy is exposed, and the government has decided that movies provide a better channel for subliminal messages (breaking the fourth wall with their own subliminal message promoting the film and the U.S. Army), the agents arrest Fiona and Wyatt as scapegoats to cover-up
the government's involvement in the failed scheme.
Josie, Valerie, and Melody perform the concert, and for the first time their fans are able to judge the band on its merits, rather than be subliminally persuaded to like the band. Alan comes to the concert and tells Josie he loves her, and she returns his feelings. The audience roars their approval as the film comes to a close.
Du Jour
Cameos
in the film constitutes a running gag
. Almost every scene features a mention or appearance of one or more famous brands, including Sega
and the Dreamcast (Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog
also appears in Archie Comics), Motorola
, Starbucks
, McDonald's
, Gatorade
, Snapple
, Evian
, Target
, Aquafina
, America Online, Pizza Hut
, Cartoon Network
(which has aired the cartoon series on many occasions), Revlon
, Kodak, Puma
, Advil
, Bounce, and more. None of the advertising was paid promotion by the represented brands; it was inserted voluntarily by the filmmakers.
. Film critic Roger Ebert
gave the film one-half of a star out of a possible four, commenting that "Josie and the Pussycats are not dumber than the Spice Girls
, but they're as dumb as the Spice Girls, which is dumb enough."
Evaluating the film for the Onion A.V. Club in 2009, Nathan Rabin
writes that it is "funny, sly and sweet' and "a sly, sustained spoof of consumerism". He rates the film as a "secret success". The film currently holds a 53% "Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes
, based on an average of 114 reviews, holding the consensus "This live-action update of Josie and the Pussycats offers up bubbly, fluffy fun, but the constant appearance of product placement
s seems rather hypocritical."
and DVD
on November 20, 2001, a "Family-Friendly" PG-rated version was released as well: this version omitted a great deal of the profanity and sexual references.
and Playtone Records
on March 27, 2001, Music from the Motion Picture Josie and the Pussycats was well-received, certifying a gold album with 500,000 copies despite the film's critical and commercial failure.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
released by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. Directed and co-written by Harry Elfont
Harry Elfont
Harry Elfont is an American screenwriter and film director.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in nearby Lower Moreland Township, he met his creative partner Deborah Kaplan while they were both enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University...
and Deborah Kaplan
Deborah Kaplan
Deborah Kaplan is an American screenwriter and film director.Raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, Deborah Kaplan met her creative partner Harry Elfont while they were both enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University...
, the film is loosely based upon the Archie
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
comic of the same name
Josie and the Pussycats (comic)
Josie and the Pussycats is a teen-humor comic book about a fictional rock band, created by Dan DeCarlo and published by Archie Comics. It was published from 1963 until 1982; since then, a number of one-shot issues have appeared without regularity...
. The film stars Rachael Leigh Cook
Rachael Leigh Cook
Rachael Leigh Cook is an American actress, known for her role in the romantic comedy She's All That and her This is Your Brain on Drugs public service announcement.-Early life:...
, Tara Reid
Tara Reid
Tara Donna Reid is an American actress. Reid has acted on television shows such as Saved By The Bell: The New Class, Days of our Lives, California Dreams, and Scrubs....
, and Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
as the Pussycats with Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
, Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
, and Gabriel Mann
Gabriel Mann (actor)
Gabriel Mann is an American actor and former fashion model, currently starring as Nolan Ross on the ABC drama series Revenge.-Life and career:...
.
The film earned mixed reviews during its release and flopped at the box office.
Plot
Wyatt Frame is a record executive working for record label MegaRecords. The label, headed by the trendy and scheming Fiona, pumps out pop bands and, through an arrangement with the United States government, get teens to buy their records and follow "a new trend every week" by putting subliminal messages under the music. The Government's motive in the scheme is to help build a robust economy from the "wads of cash" teenagers earn from babysitting and minimum wageMinimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
jobs. When a member of Wyatt's wildly successful boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
, Du Jour, uncovers one such message and asks Wyatt about it aboard their private jet, Wyatt parachutes out with the pilot, leaving the plane to crash and apparently killing Du Jour.
Wyatt lands just outside the town of Riverdale
Riverdale (Archie Comics)
Riverdale is a fictional town somewhere in the United States that is the setting for most of the various characters that appear in Archie Comics...
, and meets The Pussycats: vocalist/guitarist Josie McCoy, drummer Melody Valentine, and bassist Valerie Brown. As they are struggling financially, they accept Wyatt's offer to a lucrative record deal despite its implausibility. They are flown to New York City where they are renamed "Josie and the Pussycats", much to the girls' discomfort. All goes well and their first single climbs rapidly to the top of the charts, but Valerie grows increasingly frustrated that all media attention is focused on Josie rather than the band as a whole. Melody, too simple to notice the undue attention Josie receives, uses her uncanny behavioral perception and becomes suspicious of Fiona and Wyatt.
Due to Val and Melody's suspicions, Fiona orders Wyatt to kill them; he attempts to do so by sending them without Josie on a fake "appearance" on a badly faked set for the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
show Total Request Live
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...
, in which an obviously fake Carson Daly impersonator and the real Carson Daly
Carson Daly
Carson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
assault them with baseball bats (the girls survive due to their attackers' incompetence). Meanwhile, Josie plans to attend a gig at a bar by Alan M, a musician whom she likes, but Wyatt convinces her it was canceled. Instead, Josie listens to a new remix of their latest single, and is brainwashed by subliminal messages into desiring a solo career and seeing Val and Melody as impediments. After an argument with her bandmates, Josie realizes that the music influenced the fight. Her suspicions are confirmed when she uses a mixing board
Mixing console
In professional audio, a mixing console, or audio mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or mixer is an electronic device for combining , routing, and changing the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. A mixer can mix analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer...
to make the subliminal track audible, but she is caught by Fiona.
MegaRecords have organized a giant pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
concert, whereby they plan to unleash their biggest subliminal message scheme yet. They force Josie to perform on stage by threatening to kill Melody and Valerie. The badly injured members of Du Jour appear just in time to stop Wyatt and Fiona from completing their scheme. In the resulting fight, Josie destroys the machine used to make the messages. The message for the concert is revealed not to promote the band, the label, or a corporate sponsor, but to make Fiona popular. Fiona suffers a breakdown and reveals that she had been an outcast in high school who spoke with a lisp
Lisp
A lisp is a speech impediment, historically also known as sigmatism. Stereotypically, people with a lisp are unable to pronounce sibilants , and replace them with interdentals , though there are actually several kinds of lisp...
. Wyatt reveals that his appearance is a disguise - that he went to the same high school as Fiona, but was a persecuted and unpopular albino nicknamed "White-Ass Wally". Fiona and Wyatt fall in love. The government agents (shown earlier in collusion with Fiona) arrive; because the conspiracy is exposed, and the government has decided that movies provide a better channel for subliminal messages (breaking the fourth wall with their own subliminal message promoting the film and the U.S. Army), the agents arrest Fiona and Wyatt as scapegoats to cover-up
Cover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
the government's involvement in the failed scheme.
Josie, Valerie, and Melody perform the concert, and for the first time their fans are able to judge the band on its merits, rather than be subliminally persuaded to like the band. Alan comes to the concert and tells Josie he loves her, and she returns his feelings. The audience roars their approval as the film comes to a close.
Cast
- Rachael Leigh CookRachael Leigh CookRachael Leigh Cook is an American actress, known for her role in the romantic comedy She's All That and her This is Your Brain on Drugs public service announcement.-Early life:...
as Josie McCoy, the red-headed co-founder lead vocalist, guitarist, and band leader - Tara ReidTara ReidTara Donna Reid is an American actress. Reid has acted on television shows such as Saved By The Bell: The New Class, Days of our Lives, California Dreams, and Scrubs....
as Melody Valentine, the sweet but absent-minded blonde co-founder and drummer for the Pussycats - Rosario DawsonRosario DawsonRosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
as Valerie Brown, the Pussycats' brainy songwriterSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, bassist, and backup vocalist - Alan CummingAlan CummingAlan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
as Wyatt Frame, a conmanConfidence trickA confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
who is Du Jour's manager and attempts to cause their demise - Parker PoseyParker PoseyParker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
as Fiona, the devious MegaRecords CEO who orders Wyatt to put subliminal messages in Du Jour's songs - Gabriel MannGabriel Mann (actor)Gabriel Mann is an American actor and former fashion model, currently starring as Nolan Ross on the ABC drama series Revenge.-Life and career:...
as Alan M, Josie's romantic interest - Paulo CostanzoPaulo CostanzoPaulo Costanzo is a Canadian actor, who is best known for his roles in the 2000 comedy Road Trip, the sitcom Joey, which ran from 2004 to 2006, and as Evan R. Lawson in the current USA Network series Royal Pains....
as Alexander Cabot, the band's flamboyant, rich, temperamental, and snobby manager - Missi PyleMissi PyleAndrea Kay "Missi" Pyle is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in several films, including Galaxy Quest, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Big Fish, 50 First Dates, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay...
as Alexandra Cabot, Alexander's talentless, demanding, and constantly irritating twin sister who is chasing Josie's love interest, Alan M. - Tom Butler as Agent Kelly
Du Jour
- Alex Martin as Les
- Donald FaisonDonald FaisonDonald Adeosun Faison is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor best known for his role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC comedy-drama Scrubs and as Murray in the film Clueless and the subsequent television series of the same name.Faison has also co-starred in the films Remember the Titans ,...
as DJ - Seth GreenSeth GreenSeth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...
as Travis - Breckin MeyerBreckin Meyer-Early life:Meyer was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Dorothy Ann , a travel agent and former microbiologist, and Christopher William Meyer, a management consultant. As a child of divorced parents, he lived in California, Texas, West Virginia and New Jersey. He has an older brother,...
as Marco
Cameos
- Serena AltschulSerena AltschulSerena Altschul is an American broadcast journalist, well known for her work at MTV News. She is the daughter of author Siri von Reis and Arthur Altschul, a former partner at Goldman Sachs.-Career:...
as herself - Carson DalyCarson DalyCarson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
as himself - Aries SpearsAries SpearsAries Spears is an American actor and comedian. Spears is best known as one of the actors on Fox's sketch comedy series MADtv, in which he was in 198 episodes, making him the second longest-serving original cast member on the show....
as the other Carson Daly - Eugene LevyEugene LevyEugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
as himself - Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds as The Chief
- Justin ChatwinJustin ChatwinJustin Chatwin is a Canadian film actor. He played the son of Tom Cruise's character in the Steven Spielberg-directed War of the Worlds, a leading role in the 2007 mystery/thriller The Invisible, and Goku in Dragonball Evolution...
as Teenage fan - Russ LeathermanRuss LeathermanRuss Leatherman is the famous voice of Moviefone, the nations most popular movie guide. Known for his trademark greeting, “Hellooo and Welcome to Moviefone!”, the greeting has been parodied on hundreds of programs including The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the 2005...
as Mr. MoviefoneMoviefoneMoviefone is an American-based movie listing and information service. Moviegoers can obtain local showtimes, theatre information, film reviews, or advance tickets... - Harry ElfontHarry ElfontHarry Elfont is an American screenwriter and film director.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in nearby Lower Moreland Township, he met his creative partner Deborah Kaplan while they were both enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University...
(director cameo) as Lex the pilot
Production
In line with its theme of subliminal advertising, the inordinate degree of product placementProduct placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
in the film constitutes a running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
. Almost every scene features a mention or appearance of one or more famous brands, including Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
and the Dreamcast (Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog (character)
, trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Sonic video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons, and a feature film. The first game was released on June 23, 1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's...
also appears in Archie Comics), Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
, McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
, Gatorade
Gatorade
Gatorade is a brand of sports-themed food and beverage products, built around its signature product: a line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo, distributed in over 80 countries...
, Snapple
Snapple
Snapple is a brand of tea and juice drinks which is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group and based in Plano, Texas. The brand was founded in 1972. The brand achieved some notoriety due to various pop-culture references including television shows.-History:...
, Evian
Evian
Evian is a French brand of mineral water coming from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva.Today, Evian is owned by Danone Group, a French multinational company...
, Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
, Aquafina
Aquafina
Aquafina is a brand of bottled water products produced by PepsiCo, Inc., consisting of both unflavored and flavored water. The Aquafina brand name is also licensed for use on multiple skin care products, including lip balm and wrinkle cream...
, America Online, Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
, Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
(which has aired the cartoon series on many occasions), Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
, Kodak, Puma
PUMA AG
Puma SE, officially branded as PUMA, is a major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear. Formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, relationships between the two brothers deteriorated until the two...
, Advil
Advil
Advil is a brand of ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug . Advil is manufactured by Pfizer and has been on the market since 1984.-History:...
, Bounce, and more. None of the advertising was paid promotion by the represented brands; it was inserted voluntarily by the filmmakers.
Reception
The film grossed $14,866,015 at the U.S. box office; however, its budget was an estimated $39 million, resulting in a domestic box office lossBox office bomb
The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
. Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film one-half of a star out of a possible four, commenting that "Josie and the Pussycats are not dumber than the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
, but they're as dumb as the Spice Girls, which is dumb enough."
Evaluating the film for the Onion A.V. Club in 2009, Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film and music critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today....
writes that it is "funny, sly and sweet' and "a sly, sustained spoof of consumerism". He rates the film as a "secret success". The film currently holds a 53% "Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on an average of 114 reviews, holding the consensus "This live-action update of Josie and the Pussycats offers up bubbly, fluffy fun, but the constant appearance of product placement
Product placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
s seems rather hypocritical."
Home media
When released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on November 20, 2001, a "Family-Friendly" PG-rated version was released as well: this version omitted a great deal of the profanity and sexual references.
Soundtrack
Released by Sony Music SoundtraxSony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
and Playtone Records
Playtone
The Playtone Company is an American film and television production company and record label established in 1996 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman....
on March 27, 2001, Music from the Motion Picture Josie and the Pussycats was well-received, certifying a gold album with 500,000 copies despite the film's critical and commercial failure.
- "3 Small Words" – Josie and the Pussycats (2:53)
- "Pretend to Be Nice" – Josie and the Pussycats (3:50)
- "Spin Around" – Josie and the Pussycats (3:17)
- "You Don't See Me" – Josie and the Pussycats (3:42)
- "You're a Star" – Josie and the Pussycats (2:04)
- "Shapeshifter" – Josie and the Pussycats (3:01)
- "I Wish You Well" – Josie and the Pussycats (2:55)
- "Real Wild Child" – Josie and the Pussycats (1:52)
- "Come On" – Josie and the Pussycats (3:17)
- "Money (That's What I Want)Money (That's What I Want)"Money " is a 1959 hit single by Barrett Strong for the Tamla label, distributed nationally on Anna Records. The song was written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, and became the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise....
" – Josie and the Pussycats (2:28) - "Du Jour Around the World" – Du Jour (2:56)
- "Backdoor Lover" – Du Jour (3:40)
- "Josie and the Pussycats Theme" – Josie and the Pussycats (1:43)