i'm currently accepting all future names for drew barrymore characters . in _the wedding singer_ , she was julia gulia . in _never been kissed_ , she's josie grossie . future db character names include : janet granite , janey grainy , and for that nc-17 project in the works , jo-jo . . . aw forget it . i'll stick to my day job . this is a teen movie , all right , except the main characters aren't teens . drew barrymore is a copy editor at the chicago sun times who gets her big break as a reporter , only it's very clear from the onset that she lacks the toughness and the pushy extravertedness that marks the best of reporters . the story she's covering is not really a story , but a story in the making . she is to return to high school as a student and explain what's really going on . the irony is that drew's character , was such a dweeb first time around , that she is terrified at going back . when she does , she says the wrong things , wears the wrong clothes , and projects the " i know the answer " in class that popular kids ( or at least popular kids in the movies ) reject . at least she befriends nerdy aldys ( joan of arc's leelee sobieski--watch for her ) , who turns out to be more beautiful than those who are " supposed " to be more beautiful than her . what works : drew's geeky old-self . after a start in films that was headline driven , and a nadir of roles that had her play the sluttish character , it's a surprise to see her with bad hair , big glasses and braces . it's very funny . what doesn't work : drew's geeky new-self . come on . nobody dresses as bad as she does . couldn't she just go to _the gap_ and take suggestions ? had she dressed like princess leia it would have been better . the comedy is supposed to progress when drew's younger brother ( played with zest by david arquette ) reenlists to jump-start his baseball career . now , how in the world can somebody as nerdy ( but in a funny way ) as he can be the most popular kid in the school . . . in a day ? ! <NEG> the dialogue in the film is , well , an embarrassment </NEG> . her co-workers ( molly shannon , john c . reilly and gary marshall ) are in terminal hyper-drive . her teenage peers ( except sobieski ) are so inept and stupid that there's little bite from them . couldn't the filmmakers watch _heathers_ first ? lastly , i am proud to say that i caught a significant gaffe in the film . if you see the film , you'd know what i'm talking about : drew walks into a bar , has her hand stamped , and over the night associates with some rastafarians with some delicious , um , cake . she goes wild , sleeps in late . when she wakes , she rushes off to school , without showering , without noticing that her head , lying on her stamped hand all night , has transferred part of the stamp's image to her forehead , spelling " loser " . funny , eh ? . . . except that the hand would have transferred that image backwords .
