When you think of the phrase “greatest comic book movies of all time”, several seminal titles come to mind. The Dark Knight, X-Men, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Spider-Man 2, and Men In Black adorn countless lists discussing the best of the best. However, twenty years after its theatrical release, it sounds like the world is finally ready to admit that Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan’s cult classic Josie and the Pussycats belongs in that conversation as well.
Released in April 2001, this live-action film based on the Archie Comics series and Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name brought Josie McCoy, Valerie Brown, Melody Valentine, and their cat ear headbands into the new millennia and updated them for a modern audience (way before The CW added a dark and broody filter on it). This movie rode the wave of Girl Power ignited by Spice World in 1997 and delivered a That Thing You Do! for a new generation.
In Josie and the Pussycats, we follow a small-town band played by Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid on their quest to superstardom. But as they get caught up in a whirlwind of hit songs, media appearances, and epic arena concerts, the girls find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy orchestrated by their record label to inject subliminal messages into their fans through their music.
Speaking of the music, the soundtrack is the first thing that draws you into the world of Josie and the Pussycats. From the classic boy band stylings of DuJour to the bouncy pop rock of the Pussycats, the original music throughout the film was able to stand alone as a chart-topping album despite the film’s critical and commercial failure. This isn’t all that surprising when veterans of the music industry such as Adam Duritz of The Counting Crows, Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne (and later the acclaimed CW series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Jane Wieldlin of The Go-Go’s, and Letters to Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley were all involved in the creation of the certified gold record. By taking the music seriously, it provided a solid base for the satirical script to go off the walls as it wanted.
Which was good because that’s exactly where things went.
In addition to the absolutely jerkin soundtrack, Josie and the Pussycats should be remembered for its incredibly smart script. There are so many levels to dissect in this story. On the surface, you have a fun 98-minute movie musical about an enduring friendship. Upon digging deeper, you get a commentary on consumerism, conformity, and the extremes people will go to reach peak levels of both. The meta gags are so expertly scattered throughout the film that you need multiple viewings to take them all in. For example, many will recall the gag in the climax about subliminal messaging in movies. But it wasn’t until years later that I even realized this: During the presentation to the government officials given by Fiona (perfectly played by Parker Posey), one of the screens with scrolling text behind her says, “This movie is brilliant.” Maybe this is just the subliminal messaging speaking, but beats like that in combination with the carefully crafted and fully formed characters have stuck with me after all these years.
The real legacy of Josie and the Pussycats is the fact that it was so ahead of its time that it basically told us the future. Wyatt (played the incomparable Alan Cumming) and Fiona plan to hold a massive rock concert that airs simultaneously on pay per view and online has become commonplace, especially in a post-COVID world where the internet is our primary destination for entertainment. The hilarious overuse of brand logos has somehow become fashionable. And the movie gave us the template for the influencer culture that we currently live in where marketing departments are enlisting celebrities to push the latest trends and products in creative non-traditional ways. Instead of billboards and commercial campaigns, we have Instagram stories and Twitter posts. You even get Bad Bunny and Stephen Amell competing in wrestling matches, My Chemical Romance and Paramore selling makeup palettes, and Lady Gaga serving as the creative director for a line of Polaroid products.
Plus, in a time where theaters were packed with male-led movies and poorly-conceived female characters, we got a story from a major studio featuring women supporting each other and focusing on their own journeys rather than placing the romantic subplot at the forefront.
Despite being an excellent snapshot of the early aughts, Josie and the Pussycats still resonates with audiences today. And it will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come because the themes and top-notch storytelling are timeless. So next time you talk about one of the greatest comic book movies of all time, make sure you remember The Pussycats. Because who’s a rockstar? They are.
