Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
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A girl band is thrust into the spotlight only to discover a conspiracy using pop music to deliver subliminal messages.
The story
After the boy band DuJour is forced to confront a record label executive regarding strange backing tracks, the executive seeks a replacement act. He discovers the struggling local pop-punk band Josie and the Pussycats and offers them a major record deal. The band travels to New York City, where they are rebranded and quickly achieve success. However, the band members begin to notice unsettling inconsistencies in their new fame, while the record label's true motives involve a government-backed conspiracy to use subliminal messaging in music to influence the public and drive consumerism.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Successful boy band DuJour discovers subliminal messages in their music, leading to a fight where label executive Wyatt Frame parachutes out of their plane. Wyatt seeks a new band and finds the local pop-punk group Josie and the Pussycats. They sign a deal with MegaRecords and move to NYC, where they are rebranded. Meanwhile, CEO Fiona reveals a conspiracy with the government to use subliminal messages to indoctrinate teens into consumerism. The Pussycats' first single becomes a hit, but Valerie becomes resentful of Josie's spotlight, and Melody becomes suspicious of Fiona. After surviving an assassination attempt on MTV's TRL, the girls discover the subliminal tracks. Fiona orders Wyatt to kill them, but the girls find out the truth. MegaRecords plans a pay-per-view concert to unleash a final message via cat-ear headsets. The injured members of DuJour arrive to help. Fiona accidentally destroys the message generator, revealing her own insecurities. The government agents arrest Fiona and Wyatt as scapegoats. Josie, Valerie, and Melody perform the concert together, and Josie reconciles with her friend Alan M. on stage.
- First release year
- 2001
- Runtime (minutes)
- 98
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Harry Elfont; Deborah Kaplan
- Writers
- Harry Elfont · writer; Deborah Kaplan · writer
- Cast and characters
- Rachael Leigh Cook · Josie McCoy; Tara Reid · Melody Valentine; Rosario Dawson · Valerie Brown; Alan Cumming · Wyatt Frame; Parker Posey · Fiona; Gabriel Mann · Les; Paulo Costanzo · Green; Missi Pyle · Faison
- Genres
- musical comedy; satire; teen comedy
- Themes
- consumerism; corporatization of music; girl power; satire
- Tone and mood
- exuberant; satirical; candy-colored
- Premise and plot tags
- girl group; conspiracy; musical; satire
- Source material / true-story basis
- Archie Comics series and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon
- Franchise connections
- Archie Comics
- Content notes
- profanity; sexual references
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure upon release, though it later gained success as a cult film.
- Reported review scores
- CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A to F
- Production trivia
- The film features an inordinate degree of product placement as a running gag.; The soundtrack was certified gold and peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard 200.; The film's theatrical PG-13 rating caused contention with Archie Comics, leading to a 'Family-Friendly' PG version.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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