I’m continually fascinated — amused even — by the ongoing reappraisal of Josie and the Pussycats, the big-screen revival of the animated girl group both Archie Comics and Hanna-Barbera brought to life back in the day. Critics and audiences weren’t interested when it dropped 25 years ago this month. (At least we gave it a positive review.) I’m still kinda amazed writers-directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan (Can’t Hardly Wait) got the green light for this playfully balls-to-the-wall satire, in which the rock trio (played by then-young stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson and Tara Reid) unwittingly takes part in a subliminal conspiracy cooked up by Alan Cumming and Parker Posey’s diabolical music execs. Released during the bubblegum-pop era it mercilessly mocked, this savvy, silly spoof of consumerism, media manipulation, celebrity culture and, of course, the greedy-ass music industry flew over a lot of heads. Thankfully, there’s a growing cult of fans (a colleague of mine even made a Josie and the Podcats podcast) who applaud it for being the sort of high-camp, hella-meta, sneakily subversive gust of riot-grrrl power that would’ve made Manny Farber and Susan Sontag proud. Scene senior film critic Jason Shawhan will give a pre-screening intro.
Midnight at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
