| 80 |
Variety
Joe Leydon
Sensationally exuberant, imaginatively crafted and intoxicatingly clever.
|
| 75 |
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
A comic-book rock band starring in a film that actually makes a point? Now that's something worth singing about.
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Mindless glitz-o-ramas don't get any snazzier.
|
| 75 |
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The action is as perky as the main characters.
|
| 70 |
TV Guide
Frank Lovece
That rare film aimed at teenage girls that's still enjoyable for grownup viewers.
|
| 70 |
Village Voice
Jane Dark
The excellently irrelevant music is played by excellently irrelevant real-life rockers.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
Chuck Wilson
A surprisingly smart satire around the bubble-gum band that first found life in the pages of the Archie comic book series.
|
| 67 |
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The movie's got bounce. Spanked along by a soundtrack that has a surprising punky bite for something aimed at 13-year-olds.
|
| 67 |
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
It's a silly, goofball romp, sure, but this newfangled Josie rocks far harder than her predecessor.
|
| 65 |
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
Dippy, funny, and fast-paced enough to be a guilty pleasure.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
More fun than you'd expect from an adaptation of a '60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon that was in turn derived from a comic book.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Follows its heroines' rise and wising-up with a giddy, "Hard Day's Night" enthusiasm.
|
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Light and frothy though all this is, there is an off-putting element to "Josie," and it's what must be the film's world record number of product placements.
|
| 60 |
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Harmless girlie trifle. Or at least it means to be.
|
| 60 |
Slate
David Edelstein
Even if you find the satire in Josie and the Pussycats self-serving, you might still love the movie, buy the soundtrack, and surrender to the hype. That's what happened to me.
|
| 50 |
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Would be more fun if it were either more shameless or more principled in the bad-girl way, taking a stance on the value of artistry and attitude over commerce.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It’s a big, frothy, high-tech, cutesy-poo musical comedy.
|
| 50 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
A new millennium version of "A Hard Day's Night" without any wit to balance the silliness.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Wesley Morris
What should have been 90 zippy minutes of jingling, giggling, winking fakery adds up to only about 20 minutes of fun.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Sara Wildberger
A fair weekend distraction for 10-year-old girls.
|
| 50 |
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
One long camp joke, with vamped scenes strung together.
|
| 40 |
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Cumming manages to keep the film's pandering in check with every wicked raised eyebrow.
|
| 40 |
Film.com
Sean Means
Fails as a movie, it works OK as a long-form video.
|
| 38 |
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
The concept is so hypocritical, it's like Britney Spears calling Christina Aguilera underdressed and overexposed.
|
| 12 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Josie and the Pussycats are not dumber than the Spice Girls, but they're as dumb as the Spice Girls, which is dumb enough.
|
| 10 |
New Times (L.A.)
Robert Wilonsky
An antiadvertisement for itself.
|
| 10 |
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
The fat cats of Hollywood have coughed up a hairball.
|
| 10 |
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Few people other than future airline passengers should be subjected to such misery.
|
| 10 |
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
The insultingly trendy post-postmodern tale rationalizes its own product placement by using overkill.
|
