She's All That (1999)

39% of critics liked it
(57 reviews)
60% of users liked it
(370,821 ratings)

If Hollywood can shoehorn William Shakespeare into the teen-movie treatment with Romeo and Juliet, and Jane Austen with Clueless (from her novel, Emma), why not George Bernard Shaw? While his Pygmalion has been staged and filmed endless times, most famously as the musical My Fair Lady, here Shaw… More If Hollywood can shoehorn William Shakespeare into the teen-movie treatment with Romeo and Juliet, and Jane Austen with Clueless (from her novel, Emma), why not George Bernard Shaw? While his Pygmalion has been staged and filmed endless times, most famously as the musical My Fair Lady, here Shaw goes to high school. This time around, a Los Angeles' school's most popular guy Zack (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) loses his girlfriend Taylor (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) to television star Brock Hudson (Scream's Matthew Lillard). Zack then vows to his friends that he can take any girl in school and turn her into the prom queen. With five weeks until the prom, his friends pick weird, art nerd Laney Boggs (Rachael Leigh Cook). Zack predictably gets more than he bargained for as he falls in love with his "creation." Eldon Hudson and Kieran Culkin, stars of The Mighty, play Laney's best friend and little brother, respectively. Robert Iscove, director of television's Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, makes his big-screen debut. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr.
Directed By: Robert Iscove
Written By: R. Lee Fleming
Genres: Drama, Romance, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 29, 1999 Wide
On DVD: Jan 15, 2002
Studio: Miramax

Critic Reviews

Godfrey Cheshire, Variety
She's All That feels like it could have been made by a team of septuagenarians from the glory days of American Intl. Pictures.
Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
It's often impossible to distinguish what's meant to be cartoonish from what's meant to be dramatic, but the confusion seems appropriately adolescent.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
A trite classic.
Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com
In the process of discovering each other, both Laney and Zack learn that it's as OK to change as it is to stay the same, perhaps even better.
Paul Tatara, CNN.com
Director Robert Iscove isn't really taxing his imagination, but that's probably just as well.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
She's All That is essentially a formulaic comedy, but it has enough glimmerings of originality and wit to make you wish it were much bolder and funnier than it turns out to be.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
Uneven "ugly duckling" teen flick.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Iscove's film has its own brand of charm and is reasonable enough in its ambitions that it's awfully hard to resist.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
She's All That is not likely to make a mark or be remembered by anyone for very long, but it's harmless enough and useful for finding the finer points of this genre.
Derek Adams, Time Out
A formula flick.
Tom Meek, Film Threat
The tempo of the film does well to cure the unlikely romance with just the right amount of anxiety and the leads -- especially Cook, who is wonderfully promising here -- create an earnestly heartfelt chemistry.
Stuart Klawans, Nation
With She's All That, we see how true garbage may nevertheless teem with a life of its own.
Eugene Novikov, Film Blather
It's wretchedly predictable, inconsistently funny and not always well-written. It's enjoyable enough, but a truly good movie it's not.
Jim Shelby, Palo Alto Weekly
Considering that all of us (even, one surmises, the young viewers smack in the hairlines of this movie's demographic gunsights) can guess where this story is going, why is the last third of this film so unrelentingly slow?
John R. McEwen, Film Quips Online
The dance stops eventually, and then those darn kids start talking again. Way to ruin the mood.
James Rocchi, Netflix
Contains just enough of a message about self-worth and honesty to lend some moral nutrition to the entertainment calories it provides so capably.
Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer
She's All That showcases a pair of bright young stars whose charms partially camouflage a predictable plot.
Kevin N. Laforest, Montreal Film Journal
I gotta admit that it's kinda enjoyable, in a sugarcoated l'il story for a rainy afternoon way, but still...
Geoffrey Macnab, Sight and Sound
Adolescence was never supposed to be this wholesome.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A spiffy comedy about an adorable underdog.

Read all 21 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Cassie H

This is a really sweet and funny movie. Rachel Leigh Cook was really cute even with her glasses and Freddie Prinze Jr. set all the guys straight about after you make a bet you don't think of it as a bet. I also thought that Rachel Leigh Cook's fast way of talking was cute… More
This is a really sweet and funny movie. Rachel Leigh Cook was really cute even with her glasses and Freddie Prinze Jr. set all the guys straight about after you make a bet you don't think of it as a bet. I also thought that Rachel Leigh Cook's fast way of talking was cute and I love that Kiss Me song. :) This is a great 90s teen comedy. :) A movie you can watch over and over again. :) Great movie. :) I love it.! :) My dad even liked it! lol. :) Love it! :) Freddie is just toooo cute!!! :) Love it, love it, love it!
Bethany M

Quirky but funny film that made me relate back to 'Not Another Teen Movie' Because of this I knew the ending already but it was a good film! Not great, but good!
Dead A

Except for one part where the bad boys had to eat pubes pizza for teasing Simon Boggs (Kieran Culkin), I liked the whole movie. The idea of this movie is like ancient - popular guy having a popular bitchy girlfriend and later on breaking up and he again fall for the unpopular girl and… More
Except for one part where the bad boys had to eat pubes pizza for teasing Simon Boggs (Kieran Culkin), I liked the whole movie. The idea of this movie is like ancient - popular guy having a popular bitchy girlfriend and later on breaking up and he again fall for the unpopular girl and some problems occur but they solve it and they live happily ever after (I bet you've watched this kinda movie before). The prom dance was awesome.
Wahida K

This was a Sweet Movie.
Dean M

Surprisingly watchable teen romance feature adorable Freddie Prinze Jr. as the cool dude on campus who accepts a bet to play "Professor Higgins" to a cause-conscious but nerdy "Eliza Doolittle" (Rachel Leigh Cook). Despite the lesson about looks not defining a… More
Surprisingly watchable teen romance feature adorable Freddie Prinze Jr. as the cool dude on campus who accepts a bet to play "Professor Higgins" to a cause-conscious but nerdy "Eliza Doolittle" (Rachel Leigh Cook). Despite the lesson about looks not defining a person, which gives this film a John Hughes feel, there are plenty of fun, silly moments that guarantee at least a wide grin.
Jennifer X

Freddie Prinze Jr. is so ugly that it's impossible to believe that he would even stand a chance with Rachel Leigh Cook, much less play popular to her wallflower character. (But that's not why I didn't like this. Just something to point out. Anyway.) I hated it because… More
Freddie Prinze Jr. is so ugly that it's impossible to believe that he would even stand a chance with Rachel Leigh Cook, much less play popular to her wallflower character. (But that's not why I didn't like this. Just something to point out. Anyway.) I hated it because it was cliche. And not in a guilty-pleasure way either.
Candy R

Love the music. Good rom com about the popular guy falling for the misfit girl.
Tim S

Thanks for making shitty high school movies popular again.
Dean !

A pretty good, funny chick flick with plenty of well known faces appearing. A boy has a bet he can turn any girl into a prom queen, and they choose the geekiest, tom boy they can.......will he succeed?
Rachel F

Another teen flick but i guess its more tolerable than a lot of the other movies like it
Michael S

I kind of liked this cheesy teen flick.
Megan S

One of the stupidest teeny bopper movies I've seen.
Sophie B

this was ok but i probably wouldn't want to watch it again
danny d

whats up with that kid eating pubic hair. ruined the whole movie. oh, and high school is not really like that for about 99% of people. this story is greatly exhagerated
Leigh R

Hoorah to the losers in school.
Steven V

She's All That follows the same basic plot line we've all seen millions of times over. The reason this movie was as entertaining as it was, was due to both Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook. They have this… More
She's All That follows the same basic plot line we've all seen millions of times over. The reason this movie was as entertaining as it was, was due to both Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook. They have this likeable quality about them, that makes you want them to be happy together. Of course, in a movie like this, all the characters are pretty stereotypical. There's also the supporting cast including Anna Paquin as Mackenzie Siler, Zack Siler's sister, and Kieran Culkin as Simon Boggs, Laney Boogs' little brother, Elden Henson as Laney Boogs' nerdy good friend, not forgetting a very subdued performance of Wayne Boggs, Laney Boogs' father from Kevin Pollak. Of course there's the two camps of followers and the soundtrack music, yet the story's told in a pretty good pace, event after event with timely interludes. Kudos to director Robert Iscove and writer R. Lee Fleming Jr. All in all a wholesome teenage tale with no violence nor sex. The one thing that sort of bothered me about the two main stars was that they looked too far apart in age at time. I figure they're both supposed to be seniors in high school, but he looks 20, and she looks 14. She's All That was a fun movie to watch. Nothing unexpected happens and you all know what's going to happen right from the start, but with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook leading the way, it's still a good movie to see.
Joseph E

Such a cliche chick flick that only unpopular, I have no life teens would watch it.
Deb S

It's a romantic, funny, light-hearted film about prom, being popular and everything that comes along with that. Zach's a popular guy (class president and captain of the soccer team) whose girlfriend dumps him for another guy. In order to prove a point to her and his friends… More
It's a romantic, funny, light-hearted film about prom, being popular and everything that comes along with that. Zach's a popular guy (class president and captain of the soccer team) whose girlfriend dumps him for another guy. In order to prove a point to her and his friends he makes a bet that he can get the dorkiest girl at school and turn her into the prom queen. Matthew Lillard is goofy and hilarious as always. My favorite scene was his dancing at "Give It To Me" by Rick James (which wasn't credited!!!!) at the party. Usher, Lil' Kim and Anna Paquin (True Blood) are only in this movie for like 5 minutes; must've simply got paid for having their faces in here. Overall feel of the film was enjoyable and entertaining and will definitely be more appreciated by the younger crowd of viewers.
Nicolas K

She might be all that, but the film is not really all that good.
ashley h

This was a pretty good movie about just how cruel teenage life can be.I'm glad that she found herself,but she really just needed confidence,not a make-over. A good teenage comedy.