A blast from the past! It’s been 21 years since Never Been Kissed hit the big screen, and now, star Drew Barrymore is revisiting her former role of Josie Geller — a.k.a. Josie Grossie.
During the Drew Barrymore Show on Friday, November 6, the 45-year-old actress brought Josie on as her “copilot” to help deliver the day’s news. Josie, a high school student and aspiring journalist, was decked out in her 1980s prom dress and matching scrunchie alongside a mouth full of braces.
“Thank you for having me! Your studio is so beautiful,” an excited Josie told Barrymore, who said in response, “Oh, so is your ensemble! You know, you didn’t have to dress up just for this.”
Josie pointed out that since she’s on TV, the occasion called for the perfect outfit. “It’s the fanciest thing I own, and I never really got to wear it anyway,” Josie said of the pink dress, which was ruined by bullies who tossed eggs at her during a prom night prank. The popular kids also referred to her as “Josie Grossie.”
The Flower Beauty founder, for her part, offered to help Josie “make a new memory” for her in the gown. However, as they began to read the news together, it became clear that Josie was not caught up with current events. While reading a headline about the presidential election, she incorrectly listed George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis as the candidates. (Bush, who died in 2018 at age 94, and Dukakis, 87, ran for office in 1988.)
“Oh, Josie — you’ve missed so much,” Barrymore told her former character. “A lot has happened since 1998.”
Barrymore starred in Never Been Kissed in 1999 alongside David Arquette, Michael Vartan, Leelee Sobieski, Jeremy Jordan, Molly Shannon and John C. Reilly. The rom-com followed newspaper copywriter Josie Geller (Barrymore) as she goes undercover at her former high school to gather research for a story. While there, she ends up falling for her high school English teacher, Sam Coulson (Vartan).
In early October, Barrymore virtually reunited with her former Never Been Kissed costar Jessica Alba on The Drew Barrymore Show. At the time, the Honest Beauty founder praised the Santa Clarita Diet alum for helping out many of the young actors on set.
“You popped so many actors as well,” Alba, 39, said. “It felt like camp, but you also, I mean, you really took so many people under your wing and guided them and a lot of us were just really starting out and you set the stage, I would say for us and gave us a platform to be successful, so thank you.”
Josie isn’t the first character Barrymore has revisited since recently launching her daytime show. Last month, she recreated her iconic Scream character, Casey Becker, who was Ghostface’s first victim in the 1996 film. In her reimagining of Casey, the Golden Globe winner envisioned what life would be like for the character had she not been slain by the infamous serial killer.
