KIDDIE LITTER? 'JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS' SATIRIZES POP CULTURE WHILE INDULGING IN IT.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

There are a limited number of ways to go with movie remakes of trashy boomer TV shows.

Many, pitifully, just take a basic sitcom concept - ``McHale's Navy'' or ``My Favorite Martian,'' say - and turn it into a screechy contemporary comedy they hope will appeal to kids unfamiliar with the original. Others, like ``The Addams Family'' movies, go the ironic camp route, striking a superior attitude to what was actually the funnier approach of a generation or so earlier.

And then there are the rare sitcom movies that successfully satirize pop culture by cleverly reimagining the antecedent. ``The Brady Bunch'' movies come to mind. The new, live-action version of the Archie Comics- derived cartoon series ``Josie and the Pussycats'' aims for that, too.

Of course, this movie about an all-girl rock band making it big wants to look really cool to its target, 13-year-old female audience, too. And, just as urgently, to the boys who love them.

``It's really a smart movie that makes fun of itself,'' notes Tara Reid, who plays the trio's kittenishly kooky drummer, Melody. ``Everything it tells you not to do is what it does itself, so the whole movie is like one big contradiction, which I think is really cool.''

``I was trying to figure out how they were going to revamp this cartoon from the '70s for a whole new generation of kids,'' adds Rosario Dawson, the in-your-face indie actress (``Light It Up,'' ``Kids,'' ``He Got Game'') who plays lioness-fierce bassist Valerie. ``But they made it so pertinent to today by satirizing the whole boy band genre and 'Pop Stars' thing, all of these television shows about creating bands.

``Before, there were definitely these generic, purely commercial bands coming out, but no one ever wanted to talk about it,'' Dawson continues. ``But now, they actually have television shows that shout, 'Yeah, it's a formula! But we're still gonna make you buy the records!' So a film like this really works because it's doing the exact same thing, but it makes it smarter.''

The ``Josie'' movie, which also stars ``She's All That's'' Rachael Leigh Cook as the group's ferally skeptical frontwoman, is both a corporate product co-production of Universal Pictures and MGM and the subversive brainchild of writer-directors Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont.

Their idea was to blast the entire universe of teen fad consumerism by suggesting a government conspiracy to plant masked, subliminal messages in pop songs that urge young listeners to buy the next big thing (``Orange is the new red!'' ``Heath Ledger is the new Matt Damon!'' etc.). When sleazy music-biz types pluck the Pussycats out of garage-band obscurity and turn them into a media megatrend within the space of a week, Josie accurately suspects something is amiss. But when she learns the truth, it may be too late to save her band or the youth of America.

``I'm a trend pimp!'' she realizes, caterwauling in anguish.

The filmmakers admit that, somewhat paradoxically, working within the context of a pre-sold, brand-name property actually allowed more latitude for their self-lampooning criticism.

``Universal came to us with the idea of 'Josie and the Pussycats,' '' says Elfont, who previously collaborated with creative partner Kaplan on the teen party comedy ``Can't Hardly Wait.'' ``We weren't excited about doing a cartoon-to-movie kind of thing, but we were excited about doing a very music-driven film about a girl band.

``But we also realized that this could be a way of telling a unique story. We kind of slipped some things into this movie that I don't think we would have been able to had it not been 'Josie and the Pussycats.' We were able to take some satirical risks because we knew that there was an existing title that, by itself, might draw some people in.''

As Elfont indicates, the movie's music was one element that was taken quite seriously. No less a producer than Kenneth ``Babyface'' Edmonds was brought in to oversee the songs. And while the three actresses only sing a little backup and do not actually play the tunes heard on the soundtrack, they all went through intensive training on their instruments and attended band camp together before production, all so they'd look convincing in the film.

Rewarding, but essentially useless, effort, according to the actresses.

``The guitar stuff I worked on so much,'' insists Cook. ``And honestly, my biggest complaint with the movie is that you can't see how accurate I am. I mean, I would ruin whole takes by going, 'Guys, I'm completely on the wrong chord,' when I should have just been thinking about making it seem like I was singing and having a good time.

``I went with Deb and Harry to pick out my guitar at the Guitar Center in the Valley, and the three of us got very excited,'' Cook adds. ``I felt very cool carrying it to my car, but it was all downhill from there. It was very difficult, but really rewarding, too. I plan to continue playing eventually, when I stop associating it with work and anxiety.''

Regardless of the difficulty and limited on-screen fruits of their musical labors, playing out rock star fantasies was definitely a rush. A totally fake one, but exhilarating nonetheless.

``I was air-guitaring since, I think, when I was in the womb, so it was really fun for me to do this project,'' Dawson reveals. ``We played in front of 7,000 people! I know they were all extras and being told when to scream, but it was still great, an instant gratification that you just don't get when you're doing film.''

Another serious concern-cum-trial: the goofy/sexy Pussycat costumes, of which each girl logged about 60 apiece.

``It was fun, but like many great clothes, they're not the most comfortable things you've ever worn,'' Cook notes of the skimpy, backless, high-heeled rock fashion statements. ``It was always something exciting, 'cause it was inevitably something you'd never seen before. But ... how do I put this ... if beauty is pain, we looked really good. The shoes were the most uncomfortable things you can imagine. No man is worth those shoes, I'll tell you that right now.''

And then there were the much-detested cat ears and 6-foot-long, cloth tails that had to be worn in all performance and promotional appearance scenes.

``At first I was like, 'Guys, why are we wearing the ears and tails in Starbucks? That's kind of retarded,' '' ``American Pie'' princess Reid recalls. ``We were always going, 'I can't believe I have to wear these stupid things.' But then I realized that the more serious we took the ears and tails, the funnier it was. The fact that that's who these girls are, that that's their mentality, made it fun to do.''

Perhaps due to their shared sartorial pain, the mentality among the actresses ultimately reflected that of the musicians in the movie - a rare occurrence, they all agree, in corporate, cutthroat Hollywood.

``At the beginning, when they're this struggling garage band, they very much want to be successful and make it, just like any other group,'' Dawson observes. ``But when their friendship is tested, I think you see that that's what they really cherish most and how that's what's going to get them through life. I was touched by it when I was watching the film because I don't really have girlfriends like that, and I think that's a beautiful thing.

``When I first met Rachael and Tara at band camp, I felt that the chemistry was there and the magic was there and the girls were really cool,'' Dawson continues. ``I think all of us will say that we're not the girlfriend type, but we just really clicked together. I mean, it can be very scary; three can be a crowd on its own. And then, honestly, girls can get catty. But we had 2 1/2 months of constantly being in each others' faces, and it only got us closer.''

Lesson learned. But can ``Josie and the Pussycats' '' meta-moral - that teen-agers should think for themselves and like what they really like, regardless of heavy promotional pressure to conform to commercial trends - come through in a film that itself is drowning in product placements and spinning off its own dolls, cat-ear headbands and music merchandise at a furious clip?

``The movie operates on different levels,'' filmmaker Kaplan reckons. ``There's a whole audience that just responds to the wish fulfillment of three girls and their friendship and them taking over the world. Then, there's a whole other level of satire that is playing to a completely different audience. And I think that there are some people in the middle who are a little too old for the girl-empowerment story and a little too young to get the satire. They're the ones who are going, 'I don't think it's proper for you to be selling us product in every shot.' They're just all ready to be offended and get all uppity about it.''

The eternal risk of satire - pumped up to steroidal proportions when it's part and parcel of a potential movie franchise.

``Part of what we're trying to do is let everybody know that we're kidding,'' Elfont pleads. ``But there is a group of kids that are just defensive about everything. Strangely, most of the younger teen-agers get the joke. It's those idealistic people in their older teens and younger 20s who are taking

everything too seriously.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) What's New `Pussycats'?

Pop culture is the co-star - and how cool is that? - in the big-screen update of `Josie'

(2) Valerie (Rosario Dawson, left), Josie (Rachael Leigh Cook) and Melody (Tara Reid) rock the house in the big-screen update of ``Josie and the Pussycats.''