Full disclosure, I seriously dig the 1999 teen comedy She’s All That. It was just a great time for those movies back then, and it’s sad to think this was pretty much the pinnacle of Rachael Leigh Cook’s career, and among the best for Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard, as well. Do we need a remake of it? Not at all. Do we need one with a gender-swapped spin? Definitely not. And do we need it to star some “TikTok sensation” in her acting debut? Of course not. However, we do need the return of Cook and Lillard, which makes things a little bit okay.
The She’s All That remake is titled, what else, He’s All That, and is coming to Netflix. Of course it is. Basically a modernized take on Pygmalion, the story followed a popular high school guy who decided to turn a social outcast into someone cool by befriending her and changing everything about her. He did this by giving her a new fashion sense and encouraging her to be more confident until the truth of his ruse was made public. You bet your ass there were lessons learned about not judging books by their cover and respecting people for who they are. Those lessons are more important than ever right now, so I can see why a remake could make sense.
This new version will flip things around, though, so it’s a cool girl out to change a loser dude. The cast includes the aforementioned TikToker, Addison Rae (who???), plus Tanner Buchanan, Madison Pettis, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, Annie Jacob, and Myra Molloy. Cook and Lillard return but as completely different characters, which seems like a missed opportunity.
Back to write the script is the original film’s screenwriter, R. Lee Fleming Jr., who is also responsible for another underrated teen comedy from that era, 2001’s Get Over It. Behind the camera is Freaky Friday and Mean Girls director Mark Waters. Look for He’s All That to hit Netflix later this year, with a trailer likely right around the corner.
