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 ? ! 
the dialogue in the film is , well , an embarrassment . 
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 .