Drew Barrymore Transforms Into One of Her Most Beloved Movie Characters

She’s not Josie Grossie anymore! Drew Barrymore decided to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of one of her most beloved romantic comedies, Never Been Kissed, by dressing up in the awkward prom dress that her character Josie wears at a pivotal part of the film. PEOPLE has the pictures of Barrymore in New York City on Thursday in the pink dress, although it’s unclear if it’s for a project — perhaps a bit for the upcoming season of The Drew Barrymore Show? — or just an eccentric celebration.

Never Been Kissed came out in 1999 and cemented Barrymore’s position as one of the romantic comedy greats. It followed the story of a young newspaper journalist who goes undercover as a high school student for a story and falls in love with her teacher (Michael Vartan). Never Been Kissed also stars David Arquette, Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly, Garry Marshall, Jessica Alba, and James Franco. It was also the first film that Barrymore produced with her production company, Flower Films Company.


Barrymore marked the 20th anniversary of the film on Instagram in 2019, expressing her fondness for the movie and the experience of making it. “Never Been Kissed was my partner Nancy Fallon and my first official movie at Flower Films,” Barrymore wrote. “All we wanted to do was make something that felt like the way so many of us feel growing up.”

“It’s raw and ridiculous, beautiful and helps you decide what is important and what isn’t,” she continued. “But we also loved humor. And if pain isn’t mixed with insane laughter, than it doesn’t work. Humor and humility are linked like besties! And everyone feels vulnerability while they are figuring out who they are and what they stand for. It also helps when you have the best cast and great music and everyone is making the same story! Josie Grossie forever.”

Barrymore has been focusing on hosting The Drew Barrymore Show lately, which was renewed for a second season, a bit of a miracle for a show that began during a year as tumultuous as 2020. “We launched this show in a pandemic, which made for a crazy, wonderful journey I never expected,” Barrymore explained. “This is my dream job, and I feel so lucky to get to do this for another year. I am so grateful to CBS Media Ventures and all our station partners for believing in us.”

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