Different from your average high-school movie, this rather sweet film spotlights Drew Barrymore as a clunky 25-year-old copy editor on the Chicago Sun-Times, who may have been kissed, but never for real.

So she's keen to avoid the disaster of her own geeky school years when the paper sends her undercover to pose as a 17-year-old to get the lowdown on students today.

She responds by falling for her teacher (Michael Vartan), getting dubbed a loser (she even has it stamped on her forehead) and being saved by her brother (David Arquette) who re-enrols and contrives to make her the most popular girl in the school.

Although this is not as much fun as it might have been, Drew does well in a difficult role, letting it all hang out for better or worse - her dresses are a serious no-no - as the newspaper staff watch her misadventures as a soaplike serial on a monitor screen.

Leelee Sobieski also impresses as the dork who befriends her.