- Title: She’s All That
- IMDb: link
If you didn’t know who Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr. were before She’s All That, you knew their names afterwards. Taking elements from My Fair Lady, the 1999 romantic teen comedy starred Prinze as popular jock Zack Siler who, after being dumped by his bitchy girlfriend Taylor Vaughan (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe), accepts a bet from his scumbag pal (Paul Walker), to transform one of the the high school’s least desirable girls into the next prom queen.
As Zack begins to woo the abrasive and inaccessible art student Laney Boggs (Cook), he begins to fall for her for real which, of course, becomes problematic when the truth of the bet is revealed. Smartly, the script allows for Zach to be a (mostly) good guy who, despite the circumstances by which the pair get together, genuinely cares for Laney. It helps that Walker, in the role I always remember him for, gets cast as the far more skeazy asshole jock who eventually gets his.
The film is packed with familiar faces including a glut of young actors Anna Paquin, Walker, Kieran Culkin, O’Keefe, Matthew Lillard as Taylor’s ridiculous new boyfriend from The Real World, Gabrielle Union, Dulé Hill, Elden Henson, and even Usher and Lil’ Kim. We also get Kevin Pollak in the role of Laney’s father and a number of recognizable faces in small cameos including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Clea DuVall, and Milo Ventimiglia.
Although a bit uneven in spots, with some of the wackier scenes not always landing, She’s All That has a number of great moments that keep it afloat including Laney’s transformation, the big choreographed prom dance sequence, and every obnoxious moment featuring O’Keefe or Lillard. There’s also a number of sneaky good moments including Paquin and Henson’s characters meeting for the first time, the moment on the beach where Union’s character flips from team Taylor to team Laney, and everything surrounding Pollack watching Jeopardy!
Made for less than $10 million dollars, although critics were mixed on the film, She’s All That was an unexpected hit opening at #1 at the box office and pulling in over $100 million world wide. Becoming an immediate staple for its generation, while being forever mocked for the “ugly” girl with a ponytail and glasses, the film has been released several times over the years on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. Currently it’s available on a number of streaming platforms.
