Everyone knows those iconic films that you can rewatch time and time again and never get sick of. However, there are just as many flicks that – when you watch them in hindsight – are actually pretty messed up. Case in point: the 1999 rom-com Never Been Kissed.
If you haven’t seen the film, go and watch it immediately – stuck in isolation, you really have no excuses. If you have seen it, you’ll fondly remember it stars Drew Barrymore as Josie Geller, a 25-year-old journo who has never had a real relationship.
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When she’s assigned to do an undercover report about the real lives of highschool students, things get interesting. Josie finds herself suffering the same kind of bullying she endured when she was at school and has a number of humiliating encounters with the ‘cool kids.’
During Josie’s time posing as an undercover high school student, she develops a crush on her English teacher, Sam Coulson played by Michael Vartan. Spoiler alert: Josie’s blows her cover at the high school prom, writes her story, and invites Mr. Coulson to come and kiss her in the middle of the school’s baseball field. He comes, he kisses her, the entire city says “awwww” and everyone lives happily ever after.
However, looking back, there are some seriously problematic aspects to this late ‘90s classic. Hot English teacher Mr. Coulson not only insists the students call him by his first name, but later on he rides the Ferris Wheel with Josie so she doesn’t have to be alone. On the ride, he tells her he’s having relationship problems with his girlfriend, and in one final, incredibly inappropriate flourish tells her “when you’re my age, guys will be lined up around the block for you.”
Remember: he still thinks she’s a 17-year-old high school student at this point. Yep, very weird.
If that wasn’t creepy enough, when the jig is up and Josie reveals her true age, Mr. Coulson tells her, “I just can’t look at you the same way.” Did he wish she was still 17? Alarm bells are going off left, right and centre.
The fact that Mr. Coulson meets Josie in the middle of the baseball field to kiss her at the end of the movie doesn’t help his overall creepy vibe, either. By meeting her there he’s essentially admitting that yes, he was attracted to a student. Yikes.
Never Been Kissed is one of the best movies from the golden age of cheesy romantic comedies, but hindsight really is 20/20 in 2020.
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