Cue “Don’t Worry Baby” by the Beach Boys! When a young Drew Barrymore graced the big screen as a Chicago Sun-Times copywriter named Josie Geller in Never Been Kissed, everything changed. While going undercover to research teenage culture at a high school, the previously nicknamed “Josie Grossie” experiences popularity for the first time — and falls for her English teacher, Michael Vartan’s Sam.
Though there are dozens of memorable scenes in the ‘90s film, it’s the variety of hilarious and heartwarming quotes that are still recited today. Whether it’s Josie’s charm while talking about love, or her past as a teenage misfit, these quotes will go down in history.
Of those excerpts, the most highly-quoted to this day may be Geller’s ode to finding the right person.
“That thing, that moment, when you kiss someone and everything around becomes hazy and the only thing in focus is you and this person and you realize that that person is the only person that you’re supposed to kiss for the rest of your life, and for one moment you get this amazing gift and you want to laugh and you want to cry because you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that it will go away all at the same time.”
Never Been Kissed was released on April 9, 1999 and also starred David Arquette, who played Geller’s cool younger brother, Rob, who helps her navigate her way into South Glen South High School’s popular clique. Molly Shannon, for her part, portrayed Anita, while John C. Reilly starred as Gus.
“I wanted to make this movie because it taps into an emotion that everyone can identify with — the awkward moments of our high school years,” Barrymore said in an interview with Wild About Movies shortly after the film was released. “For Josie, high school was a horrible, humiliating experience. She completely lacks in social skills, and now, when she has to relive those years by going back, she again misses the mark by the mile.”
Watch the video above to revisit the best quotes from Never Been Kissed!
