"She's Everything" hit theaters during the heyday of teen movies. But even compared to other popular teen movies released in 1999, such as 10 Things I Hate About You , Cruel Intentions , and American Pie , She's Everything is known for its " Pygmalion meets MTV" ” storyline stands out.
At the time, rising stars including Rachel Leigh Cook, Freddie Prinze Jr. and the late actor Paul Walker were starring in the romantic comedy. The play, adapted from George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play, follows an artsy, bespectacled high school girl (Cook as Lenny Boggs) who inadvertently becomes involved in a bet to become prom queen.
In 2019, many reviews considered She's All That an iconic film as it celebrated its 20th anniversary. Now in 2021, it's back with a remake, cheekily titled He's All That , starring Cook. Cook didn't repeat her , she was everything TikTok celebrity Addison Rae directed the transgender film. Judging from the He's All That trailer alone, a lot has changed since 1999, especially in terms of technology. But it looks like "She's Everything" and "He's Everything" have at least two things in common: big bets and an overemphasis on the dance floor.
Netflix's reimagining of the '90s cult classic, here are 10 notable things I noticed while rewatching She's All That in 2021.
Technology has come a long way.
The technological advancements in "She's All That" seem like history in 2021, especially for those too young to remember the noise of dial-up. High school students carry pagers, frequently use fax machines, and not a single smartphone in sight. One of the most advanced advancements demonstrated appears to be that students' prom photos are processed through a printer immediately after being taken.
No one knows why Simon Boggs wears hearing aids.
Lenny's brother Simon Boggs (Kieran Culkin) wears a hearing aid throughout the film. However, this is never discussed or mentioned in the movie. On first viewing, this can be seen as a choice made in the production to represent the hearing impaired. However, as Culkin pointed out in a 2014 interview with The Daily Beast, that doesn't appear to be the case. "It's a movie that always seems to come out - I only know this because friends tell me all the time. And then they'll ask, 'Why do you wear hearing aids?' ” I’d be like, “I don’t fucking know!” "To this day, the rest of the world still doesn't know why these devices were never mentioned.
The cast is epic.
The cast of She's Everything is made up of established actors, actors just starting their careers, and others who gained breakout fame from the film. In addition to Cook, Prinze Jr., Walker, and Culkin, the cast also includes Gabrielle Union, Dulé Hill ( "Knocked Up" ), Anna Paquin ( "True Blood " ), Matthew Leward (" Scream "), Elden Henson ( "Duck "), Jodi Lynn O. "Keefe" ( "The Vampire Diaries "), Lil' Kim and Usher. Gilmore Girls ' Milo Ventimiglia also appears as a football player, as does Prinze Jr.'s future wife Sarah Michelle Gellar , blink and you'll miss it.
The pop culture references and slang are 90s throwback.
As evidenced by Zack Siler's hacking performances and use of slang like "wiggin," the audience is never confused as to which era she comes from .
The family gathering scenes remain heartbreaking.
Revisiting mean girl Tyler Vaughn (O'Keefe) and Lenny's similar taste in red dresses during a house party scene is humorous... until it isn't. Taylor loves nothing more than making her classmates (especially Laney) squirm, which arguably reaches its peak when she calls Laney a "waste of perfectly good yearbook space," a "steam," and a "spam." peak. Taylor's cruelty caused Laney to do something she had earlier admitted she would never do in front of her peers: cry. It's still a disturbing scene, but it leads to a happy ending between Lenny and Zack.
Lenny Boggs' best friend was Jesse Jackson.
Lenny's best friend, played by Henson, is named Jesse Jackson. This reveal is revealed near the end of the film, which may have been intentional. However, anyone familiar with the real-life Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. might question this.
Brock Hudson is still hilarious.
Matthew Lillard's portrayal of "The Real World: Los Angeles" actor Brock Hudson is as memorable in 2021 as it was in 1999. Thanks to Lillard's sharp comedic timing, Bullock was the centerpiece of several hilarious moments in " She's All That." But his dance to Rick James' 1981 hit "Give It to Me Baby" remains one of the most bizarre and funniest scenes in the movie.
She's All That raps delightfully.
Several students created a rap song about Lenny and Tyler's rivalry for prom queen, filled with beatboxing and witty lyrics about their classmates. This scene feels like something you could only find in a 90s movie but it's still fun.
The choreographed dance at the ball is still a headache.
Suddenly, most of the students at Harrison High School knew the same choreographed steps for the prom—even Lenny had moves. "The Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim The most exciting part of the entire dance was when the school's announcer Usher served as the DJ.
The main characters are all very similar.
Lenny and Zach both come from two different ends of the high school social hierarchy, but each felt the need to veer off course while growing up. The death of Lenny's mother causes her to isolate herself from the world and refuse to be vulnerable with others. Zach delayed his final decision to attend college and felt pressure from the world to conform. In "She's Everything," both characters are engaged in an internal struggle as they approach adulthood. Since this is a romantic comedy, they end up embracing each other's flaws and becoming wiser and closer.
