She's All That

She's All That is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Robert Iscove. It stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, Paul Walker, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Kevin Pollak, Usher Raymond, Kimberly "Lil' Kim" Jones, and Anna Paquin. In the film, Zack Siler (Prinze Jr.) is a popular high school student who, after being dumped by his girlfriend, accepts a bet from his friend to transform Laney Boggs (Cook), a nerdy outcast, into the prom queen in six weeks. It is a modern adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion and George Cukor's 1964 film My Fair Lady.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances of the lead actors, but were critical of the script. It was one of the most popular teen films of the late 1990s and reached number one at the box office in its first week of release. It went on to earn $103.2 million worldwide. Producer Richard N. Gladstein noted, "There were other films that you could've seen them in, but they weren't usually the leads in those films." According to director Robert Iscove, Miramax co-head Harvey Weinstein was very involved in script development and casting, and was able to get great actors in very small parts as a personal favor.

Kevin Pollak said he signed up for the movie in part because he was impressed with Freddie Prinze Jr.’s performance in The House of Yes a few years earlier and was interested in working with him.

Writing

R. Lee Fleming Jr. is officially credited as the sole screenwriter for the film. In a 2002 interview, M. Night Shyamalan stated that he polished the screenplay while adapting Stuart Little and writing a spec script for The Sixth Sense. This was also confirmed in the film's audio commentary by Iscove.

In 2013, Shyamalan claimed that, rather than simply polishing Fleming's original script, he actually ghost-wrote the film. This was disputed by Fleming.  Jack Lechner (who served as Miramax's head of development in the late 1990s) confirmed that technically both Shyamalan and Fleming contributed to the script: Fleming wrote the initial script that Miramax bought, while Shyamalan did an uncredited rewrite (doing more than "a polish") that got the film green-lit. Lechner reiterated that content from both writers was included in the final cut of the film. Producer Richard N. Gladstein said that the script "was pretty much done" already, but that Shyamalan's changes "helped enormously with the relationship with Kevin Pollak [who played Laney's father, Wayne]". Fleming included various pop culture references in his script: Laney Boggs was named after two characters played by Winona Ryder, Kim Boggs from Edward Scissorhands and Laney Pierce from Reality Bites; Iscove was well aware that it was implausible to suggest Rachael Leigh Cook was ugly, but said it was standard practice in Hollywood to cast "the beautiful girl" and that it requires the audience to suspend their disbelief: "You either go along with it or you don't go along with it." Comparing Laney's transformation to that of Clark Kent into Superman, Iscove said casting the role was more about finding an actor who had the range to give the necessary performance. The high school scenes were shot at Torrance High School, where television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Beverly Hills, 90210 were previously filmed.

Iscove was also a choreographer and wanted to expand and embellish the prom scenes, while also showing the Weinsteins how musical numbers could work in films. The dance scene was choreographed by Adam Shankman at the request of the film's co-producer Jennifer Gibgot, who is Shankman's sister. Shankman was assisted by Anne Fletcher. Shankman was concerned about the scene not tonally meshing with the rest of the film, but Iscove persisted. Test audiences did not understand why the dance scene was happening, so Bob Weinstein asked for a reshoot with Usher to link the scene. Shankman also worked with Matthew Lillard on his solo dance scenes. Cook recalled "feeling really self-conscious” in the scene where she first descends the stairs in the dress. There were two versions of the red dress: a stunt double dress reserved for the scene when Laney falls down in a driveway outside a party, and a second smaller dress, which left Cook holding her breath trying to get through the scene quickly.

Soundtrack

The song "Kiss Me" was used as the main theme song. The film's box office success helped "Kiss Me" to gain widespread mainstream attention and chart success. It climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 list, and stayed in the Top 10 for 16 straight weeks and number four in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 43% based on 61 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Despite its charming young leads, She's All That can't overcome its predictable, inconsistently funny script." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 51, based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

It was the last film to be reviewed by Gene Siskel before his death in February 1999. Siskel gave a positive review and wrote, "Rachael Leigh Cook, as Laney, the plain Jane object of the makeover, is forced to demonstrate the biggest emotional range as a character, and she is equal to the assignment." Roger Ebert suggested: "To give the movie credit, it's as bored with the underlying plot as we are. Even the prom queen election is only a backdrop for more interesting material, as She's All That explores differences in class and style, and peppers its screenplay with very funny little moments." Ebert says it "is not a great movie, but it has its moments", giving it 2.5 out of 4 stars. Stephen Holden of The New York Times praised Cook for her performance, comparing her to Winona Ryder, saying, "Unlike so many actors playing smart young people, she actually projects some intelligence along with a sly sense of comedy."

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle calls it "About one idea short of being an excellent teenage romance. As it stands it's a pleasing but routine effort." LaSalle criticized the film for running out of plot about halfway, saying the "story line is stretched to the breaking point. In one instance, director Robert Iscove stops the action for a long dance sequence, set at the prom, that has nothing to do with anything." He commented the film is "intermittently funny" and praised Matthew Lillard's performance, calling it the best thing in the picture.

Geoff Berkshire of Variety was critical of the lack of originality, and wrote, "Suggesting that Miramax needs to put Kevin Williamson on permanent retainer if it's going to remain in the teen-pics field, She's All That notably fails to bring to comedy the insight that the Williamson-penned Scream brought so memorably to horror". Berkshire was positive about the two leads, saying "appealing young actors come off as competent, nothing more, given a context that can't be transcended." He described the direction as "nothing to be ashamed of here, but nothing of any distinction, either", and noted the soundtrack as a not unexpected plus.

Jane Ganahl of the San Francisco Examiner wrote, "And once, just once, I'd love to see a teen flick that doesn't send out a message to young girls that to be acceptable, you have to conform. I liked the artist girl much better before."

William Thomas of Empire criticized the film, saying that despite a few scenes, "The rest is just breezy propaganda for American high school fascism", and "The most worrying thing about She's All That is its message. The 'ugly duckling' (specs, dungarees, art-lover) must conform (she gets a makeover and the boys notice her "bobos" for the first time) to fit in."

Box office

She's All That premiered on January 19, 1999, at the Mann Festival Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles. The film went into general release on January 29.

| Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy Film

| Rachael Leigh Cook

| rowspan=3| Teen Choice Awards

| Choice Movie Actor

| Freddie Prinze Jr.

| Choice Movie: Love Scene

| Freddie Prinze Jr. & Rachael Leigh Cook

| colspan=2| Choice Movie: Comedy

| rowspan=2| MTV Movie Awards

| Best Breakthrough Female Performance

| Rachael Leigh Cook

| Best On-Screen Duo

| Freddie Prinze Jr. & Rachael Leigh Cook

| rowspan=7| 2000

| rowspan=2| Young Hollywood Awards

| Best Bad Girl

| Jodi Lyn O'Keefe

| Best Song

| Sixpence None the Richer <small>("Kiss Me")</small>

| Kids' Choice Awards

| Favorite Movie Couple

| Freddie Prinze Jr. & Rachael Leigh Cook

| rowspan=2| Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

| Favorite Actress – Newcomer (Internet Only)

| Rachael Leigh Cook

| Favorite Actor – Comedy/Romance

| Freddie Prinze Jr.

| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

| Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures

| Matt Slocum <small>("Kiss Me")</small>

| ALMA Awards

| Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film

| Freddie Prinze Jr.

Home media

Miramax Home Entertainment released the film on DVD and VHS on July 13, 1999. It also received a U.S. LaserDisc release on July 27, 1999.

In 2010, Miramax was sold by The Walt Disney Company (their owners since 1993), with the studio being taken over by private equity firm Filmyard Holdings that same year. Filmyard sublicensed the home media rights for several Miramax titles to Lionsgate. On January 3, 2012, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released She's All That on Blu-ray. In April 2020, ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Skydance) acquired the rights to Miramax's library, after buying a 49% stake in the studio from beIN. She's All That was one of the 700 titles Paramount acquired in the deal.

Paramount Home Entertainment reissued the film on DVD and Blu-ray on September 22, 2020, with this being one of many Miramax titles that they reissued around this time. which launched in 2021, as well as on their free streaming service Pluto TV. In Australia, it was also on the streaming service for the Paramount-owned broadcaster Network 10.

Remake

In September 2020, a gender-swapped remake of the film was announced, titled He's All That, with Mark Waters to direct, original screenwriter R. Lee Fleming Jr. to write, and starring Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan. That October, Myra Molloy, Madison Pettis, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, and Annie Jacob were cast.

In December 2020, Rachael Leigh Cook joined the cast to portray Rae's character's mother. It has been confirmed that Cook's character is unrelated to her original character. He's All That was released on Netflix on August 27, 2021. It was produced by Miramax, under their new Paramount/beIN Media Group co-ownership.

Notes

References

External links

She's All That at AllMovie