Why 'Never Been Kissed' is Ultimate '90s romcom

Being an adolescent girl growing up in the 1990s meant views of love, relationships and sex were defined by the slew of good, not so good, and exceptionally epic romantic comedies pouring out of Hollywood at the time. Undoubtably the golden age of the chick flick, the 1990s gave us memorable films like Clueless, You've Got Mail, 10 Things I Hate About You, and more. And at the very end of the era came Never Been Kissed , the 1999 Drew Barrymore film about one not-so-lucky-in-love Chicago Sun Times copy editor who goes undercover as a high school student for a feature story. We won't even begin to get into the feasibility of '90s romcom plotlines, other than to say, we really wanted to be journalists after watching this film. The movie also starred young James Franco, Jessica Alba, and a bunch of other stars that got their start in the pre-millennium decade.

So while many films have oozed the essence of the 90s — Cher's yellow plaid on plaid outfit, Heath Ledger's curly mop 'do — the reigning queen of '90s-dom has to be Never Been Kissed, which turns 15 years old Wednesday — and here's 14 reasons why.

1. Sex Ed was still a thing taught by putting condoms on bananas.

2. Cardigans lined with feather boas was a thing.

3. James Franco was still a hearthrob and not a artsy weirdo.

4. The significance put on titles like prom king and queen had a lot of social meaning.

5. The soundtrack featured '90s royalty R.E.M., The Cardigans, Semisonic, Jimmy Eat World and more.

6. Bullying couldn't be done online — egging and playground nicknames like "Josie Grossy" had to sufice.

7. The words "rufus" and "crunching" were the original "fetch" (Confirmation: You do want to be crunched.)

8. An unbuttoned collared shirt with layered necklaces was the epitome of sex in mens clothing.

9. Cardigans everywhere. All cardigans all the time.

10. Crop tops — especially of the crocheted variety — were appropriate for all occasions.

11. Cheesy monologues delivered by Drew Barrymore made us swoon.

12. Josie Geller was the original accidental stoner. Ironically, James Franco didn't play a stoner in the film.

"I made friends with a whole table full of Rastafari. Not just one, a whole table! Do you know what's a weird word? Fork," Barrymore's character muses.

13. Peer pressure was at the height of its power. As Josie's brother Rob said, "All you need is for one person to think you're cool, and you're in. Everyone else will be scared to question it."

14. Parents got away with naming their children names like "Guy". Inexplicably these children turned out to be the popular kids.

Images: Flower Films; Tumblr [TK]