Never Been Kissed

It would be much easier to take "Never Been Kissed" if Drew Barrymore hadn't already made this movie last year. And frankly, it was a lot better the first time.

In case you're wondering, that film would be the revisionist Cinderella romance, "Ever After," which was trifling, if charming. But at least it knew what it wanted to be.

"Never Been Kissed" is all over the movie genre map, from romantic comedy to teen comedy to poignant high school drama. And, unfortunately, little of it works.

In fact, the situations are so underdeveloped that the movie seems unfinished. Of course, that might be excusable if the material or performances were even slightly funny.

But they're not, and too often the "Never Been Kissed" tries to get by on Barrymore's charms, instead of wit or belly laughs. As a result, it demonstrates that, despite her sunny presence in "The Wedding Singer," Barrymore is not a comedienne.

She stars as Josie Geller, a hopelessly unhip, twentysomething copy editor for the Chicago Sun-Times who gets a shot at investigative reporting. Josie's editors send her undercover to the local high school, South Glen South, where she's expected to report on the students and teachers.

But "Josie Grossie," as she was known when she was originally in school, still doesn't fit in, and she falls in with the nerd contingent.

Fortunately, her slacker brother, Rob (David Arquette), is there to help her out of the jam. He is also posing as a student and quickly persuades the popular kids to give Josie another chance.

But even Rob doesn't have a solution for her big problem, a growing (and seemingly mutual) attraction to her literature teacher (Michael Vartan) . . . although he's too afraid to get involved with one of his students.

There's an attempt here to tell a decent message (about acceptance), but like everything else, it's treated superficially and dismissed too quickly. Instead, director Raja Gosnell ("Home Alone 3") and first-time screenwriters Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein go for cheap laughs — including a particular vulgar and pointless sex-education scene.

It doesn't help that Barrymore isn't very convincing as a geek. Worse, her attempts at humor — most of which consist of lame pratfalls — are painfully labored.

Of the cast, only Leelee Sobieski and Arquette fare well, mainly because she's playing it so straight-faced and because he tries so hard to elevate the material.

"Never Been Kissed" is rated PG-13 for crude, sexually based humor and other crass gags, scattered profanities, drug use (a hash brownie), slapstick violence and partial female nudity (a particularly revealing prom outfit).