Josie and the Pussycats

Josie, Melody and Val are three friends from a small town who play in a rock band called the Pussycats. A manager from a major record label spots them performing and signs them, and their first single quickly turns them into stars. What the trio does not know is that the head of the label is using their songs to send hidden messages to young listeners, and the women are meant to be the public face of that plan. When they find out, they have to decide what to do about it, even though speaking up could cost them everything they have gained.

The film is a comedy from 2001, directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, who also wrote the screenplay. Their first feature, Can't Hardly Wait, came out in 1998, so this was their second film as directors and writers. It is based on the comic and animated series about the band. Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson and Tara Reid play Josie, Valerie and Melody, with Alan Cumming as the label manager, Parker Posey as the company boss and Gabriel Mann as Alan M.

The production had a budget of 22 million dollars and took in about 15 million dollars worldwide, so it did not recover its costs during its cinema run. On TMDB it holds a rating of 5.8 out of 10 from 386 votes, while the film critics' rating stands at 5.2 out of 10 from 125 reviews, a fairly close result between the two groups.