Drew Barrymore once picked the best role of her career
With nearly 40 years in the game of showbusiness, one might expect the personality of Drew Barrymore to be equal parts twisted and embittered. However, through the miraculous run of good luck and the kind of friendship network one can only dream of, Barrymore has managed to navigate a career of incredible highs and incomparable lows. It’s made the actor one of her generation’s most dearly beloved performers. Whether it’s in E.T. or Scream or The Wedding Singer, Barrymore always delivers in warm charm.
It’s a charisma that has seen Barrymore not only effectively moreover into television, with her talk show The Drew Barrymore Show, but her affable nature has seen the actor’s project launch into the stratosphere and receives widespread syndication. In 2021, Barrymore was back in the movie game, however, with her successful stint on Netflix’s The Stand In, during which Barrymore took on two roles. However, none of the films mentioned so far are what she would call her favourite role of all time.
The Wedding Singer may well be one of the actor’s fan-favourites. Her dalliance with Adam Sandler is gentle and humourous without feeling too hacky and certainly deserves its cult-like status. Barrymore enjoyed the role so much that she would work with Sandler twice more on Ever After and 50 First Dates. None of which were her favourites.
It’s not just warmth and comfort that Barrymore offers, however. She kicks some serious ass in 2000’s Charlie’s Angels alongside Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu. Likewise, as her cutesy appearance in Batman Forever as Sugar. Barrymore enjoyed other star turns in teen drama Donnie Darko, Stephen King’s Firestarter and her Gold Globe-winning role in Grey Gardens. But, once more, none of those films are her favourite.
In a 2017 podcast, Barrymore revealed that the favourite role of her career was none other than Josie Geller from the 199 comedy hit Never Been Kissed. In the classic piece of teen cinema, Barrymore stars as J”Josie Grossie” a former lame student who must return to her high school to get the scoop for her job as a journalist. While at the high school she has the opportunity to right the wrongs of her own adolescence and becomes popular in the process.
For Barrymore, the connection with Josie was too strong for her to forget: “I am Josie Grossie! I feel so passionate about that movie because … I love empathy and kindness, and goodness. When s*** goes down in your life, it’s supposed to make you more nurturing and caring and compassionate and thinner-skinned so that you feel more. It’s not that you’re weaker. That movie to me is the essence of what growing up feels like.”
Considering Barrymore’s involvement in some of the most inspiring movies in the history of Hollywood, it may seem a bit surprising to see the name of a teen comedy in the position of her favourite. However, there is a joyful energy to Never Been Kissed which, without the misogyny of American Pie and the hateful sentiment of She’s All That, this film remains one of the few from the era that is watchable in 2022.
