I was aware of She’s All That for many years. It is a movie that has popped up in various articles especially when referring to best comedies of the 90s or any best of list really. I finally watched it recently.

The basic plot of the movie is about a guy, Zack Siler, whose friends place a bet that he can turn Laney Boggs, an unpopular girl into a prom queen. I know this is a modern version or 90s version of the classic story of Pygmalion. This is premise that has been done numerous times including having a scene after the transformation. Two years after this came out The Princess Diaries had some similar similarities. I am mostly referring to how Anne Hathaway is considered a nerd and unattractive and then she gets a makeover after finding out she is really a princess.

Something I realized while watching She’s All That is that it seems this was the main bases for the parody movie Not Another Teen Movie which came out two years later. Chris Evans seemed to be the Freddie Prince Jr of that movie as well as the bulk of the cast seemed to be parodies of the characters in, She’s All That. I saw Not Another Teen Movie years ago; at that time I had thought it was inspired by American Pie amongst other films.

After watching She’s All That, I thought it was interesting. I did not love the movie, but I did not dislike it either. It has a cool story, and I did like Freddie Prince Jr. as Zack. It was cool to see Matthew Lillard, Paul Walker, Gabrielle Union, and Anna Paquin in the film. I knew Usher was in the movie, but I did not know Lil Kim was in it as well. I know the name Rachel Leigh Cook but I am not that familiar with her work. I am sure I probably have seen something she was in, but it made no difference to me that she was the lead. Not that, it really matters anyway. I watch movies for various reasons. It does not matter if I know who the actors are. This came out when Freddie Prince Jr. was starring in a lot of movies. This was also after I Know What You Did Last Summer as well as the sequel which he was in. I am a big fan of Paul Walker, and I knew he was in other films beyond The Fast and the Furious. I did not know he was in this movie until watching it. It was nice to see him in a different project. I know that Paul Walker has done stuff beyond actions movies. The Fast and the Furious seems to be his most famous role especially by the end. I am a fan of Anna Paquin and know her mostly from X-Men where she played Rogue. I know she has been in other projects. I did not know she was in this, so it was cool to see her. This also came out a year before X-Men came out. I also didn’t know Gabrielle Union was in this either. It was nice to see her too. I know her from numerous projects including the movie Bring It On which was one of my favorite movies growing up. For me, I thought it was cool to see some of these actors before their later projects. I knew Usher was in the movie, but I did not know he was playing a character. I originally thought he was playing himself. He was the Campus DJ and was in the movie a little more than I thought. This was also at the start of his career before he blew up with songs like Yeah! and Confessions Part II. I think the movie has a solid cast and they all do a good job. Rachel Leigh Cook is good as Laney Boggs. I do see similarities between Laney Boggs and the character Joey Potter played by Katie Holmes in the TV series Dawson’s Creek which was on at the time. It would have been in Season 2 when this came out. I don’t know if it was deliberate or just coincidence. It is something I noticed. Their characters just seem to be similar. I am currently watching Dawson’s Creek which is what made me notice these similarities.

The movie is predictable and that is not a bad thing. I have seen dozens of movies over the years with similar plots. That does not bother me. Every project is different. I don’t need to be on the edge of my seat all the time or watching something I have never seen before to enjoy it. I think it has a good storyline. This has been done numerous times between movies and television shows to varying degrees of success. I found the movie a little boring at times. I did not find it that funny. This movie is a normal length clocking in at 95 minutes. I was happy it was only 95 minutes instead of being longer. What worked for me was the performances of the cast. I liked Freddie Prince Jr. as Zack Siler. I enjoyed watching him on screen and I thought Paul Walker did a good job as the jerk friend Dean Sampson. I was a little surprised with the direction they took Dean in by the end of the film.

Minor spoilers at this point.

I was not expecting them to go the route of Dean asking Laney to prom and then showing up at her house to take her to prom after earlier she declined his invitation. That was one thing that did catch me off guard in the mostly predictable plot. His motives were revealed to as expected since he was hoping to get laid. Even that choice surprised me only because Dean struck me as the guy who would sleep with any female who he found attractive. He was the one who picked out Laney in the bet with Zack. Once Laney became attractive that would make more sense for Dean to want to sleep with her. Not that it really matters, but I also was a little unclear if his motive for asking Laney to prom was solely to get her in bed or if it was to get back at Zack.

The movie had a decent soundtrack. For me it did nothing, including the iconic scene where the hit song Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer played. I knew this was the movie that helped catapult the song but even that scene did not really do anything for me. Sometimes a film’s soundtrack helps make it more enjoyable or has a nostalgia factor, especially when it comes to watching things from different time periods. When this movie came out, I was eight years old. When watching this movie, I did not feel any nostalgia for the soundtrack the way I have while watching other films that have come out in different time periods like the 90s, 2000s, etc. I like the song Kiss Me, but the scene did nothing for me to really feel anything. I am also slightly confused why this was such a big deal and why this was the thing that blew up the song. It could have been the exposure which is a huge part now a days especially between Netflix (example Stranger Things) and Tick Tock (half the hit songs now seem to come from this). I do wonder if I had seen this when it came out whether in theaters or waiting until the home release, if I would have had the same opinion or if I would have liked it then. I don’t know and I won’t know since time machines don’t exist and I can’t go back in time to see the movie as an eight-year-old. It has nothing to do with the high school setting. I am currently watching Dawson’s Creek which was on when this came out and I am enjoying it. I have rewatched One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, and The Vampire Diaries which all had high school settings at the beginning anyway and I still enjoy them now as I did when they originally aired. I also watched those shows when they were actually on.

I am sort of confused why She’s All That is considered a classic among many but to each their own. I think one factor would be the likeable cast. It also was a different time then. I have seen this premise done in other movies and shows and I have found those more enjoyable. This does have a good plot and the cast does a good job. It just was not super amazing to me, and I don’t consider this one of the best high school movies of all time. I think there are other films that are better, but it was nice to see that a lot of the cast went on to have successful careers.