A Bubble-Gum Romp

When you think about it--and thinking about it is probably the last thing you should do--”Josie and the Pussycats” is a third-generation cartoon. First came the Archie comic book debut in 1963, then the animated series a decade later, and now this amiably cartoonish cinematic slumber party. Talk about a distinguished family tree.

A sweet-natured bubble-gum movie about the escapades of an all-girl band, “Josie and the Pussycats,” like those venerable Frankie and Annette beach movies, gets a lot of mileage out of its spirited performers and their peppy music. It’s clearly aimed at a Clearasil audience, but if anyone older happens to wander in, they won’t be significantly worse for the experience.

Written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont and based more on a notion than an actual plot, “Josie and the Pussycats” is all about girls having fun and saving the day. Less fiendishly calculated than “Coyote Ugly,” a film aimed at the same demographic, “Josie” has a loopy and at times unpredictable sense of humor. When one peripheral character is asked why she’s around, “I was in the comic book” is the wised-up reply.

The action starts not with the Pussycats but with the hot band of the moment, called Dujour, naturally. Four idiots managed by Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming, who succeeds in looking sinister in granny glasses and a Prince Valiant haircut), Dujour disappears after getting curious about a strange background track on their new remix.

Fiona, the one-named boss at MegaRecords (Parker Posey channeling Gloria Swanson in “Sunset Boulevard”) insists that Frame find a new band for the label at once, and it soon turns out there’s more than neurosis behind her urgency.

MegaRecords, it seems, is merely a front for a nefarious government-funded plot to hide subliminal messages in rock music, to brainwash America’s most spendy demographic (as if it needed much encouragement) to buy, buy, buy oodles of consumer goods. It’s Vance Packard’s “The Hidden Persuaders” recycled for a new generation.

Meanwhile, Josie and the Pussycats, a trio that, darn it, really believe in their music, are living small in mythical Riverdale, regarding gigs at vacant lanes in the local bowling alley as a step up the career ladder.

Josie, the band’s redheaded leader (a convincing Rachael Leigh Cook), pines for Alan M (Gabriel Mann), the cute guy who, guess what, thinks of her as a friend. Valerie Brown (Rosario Dawson), is the reliable bass player, and drummer Melody Valentine (Tara Reid) is as much of a tree-hugger as her name suggests. Such good friends that they appear on each other’s bus passes, these girls know they rock and we know they rock, but no one else gets the message.

That is, until Frame stumbles on the group and signs them up considerably faster than a New York minute. Actually, he hasn’t got time to care whether they rock or not; harassed by Fiona, he inks them on looks alone, without so much as hearing a note. The girls are astonished at what turns out to be their instant success, but they vow to be friends first and a band second. That, of course, is a wee bit tougher than they imagined.

The three leads all learned to play their instruments (acting is not all fun and games) and also do their own backup work, though singer Kay Hanley does Josie’s lead vocals. The trio is great fun to watch, as is its nemesis Cumming. Very much the villain du jour after this and his equally funny role in “Spy Kids,” the actor has a charming way of practically twinkling with evil.

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 (not to mention its decision to make MTV a key plot player). You could argue that a film that’s supposed to mock commercialism in modern life needs to have corporate logos on every vacant space, but it’s unnerving how cleverly “Josie” manages to profit from the very thing it’s supposedly skewering. It’s a potent reminder that no matter how innocent a film may seem, there’s a Hollywood cash register behind almost every frame.

*

* Rating: PG-13 for language and mild sensuality. Times guidelines: The outfits are sexy, but the attitude is innocent.

‘Josie and the Pussycats’

Rachael Leigh Cook: Josie McCoy

Tara Reid: Melody Valentine

Rosario Dawson: Valerie Brown

Alan Cumming: Wyatt Frame

Parker Posey: Fiona

Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures present a Riverdale/Marc Platt production, released by Universal. Directors Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont. Producer Marc Platt, Tracey Edmonds, Chuck Grimes, Tony DeRosa-Grund. Screenplay by Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Editor Peter Teschner. Costume designer Leesa Evans. Music John Frizzell. Production designer Jasna Stefanovich. Art director Kelvin Humenny. Set decorator Johanne Hubert. Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes.

In general release.