M. Night Shyamalan Helped ‘She’s All That’ Deliver The Most Memorable F*ck in Teen Comedy History

January 29, 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of the teen comedy classic She’s All That. Why today isn’t a nationally recognized holiday consisting of deep introspection and mandatory commemoration is beyond me, but for the uninitiated (which by my cursory research is everybody under the age of 25), the film is basically My Fair Lady meets Pygmalion meets Now That’s What I Call Music! 3 meets high school. Starring the theatrically intoxicating combination of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, She’s All That tells a simple story: a recently dumped jock/hacky sack enthusiast, Prinze Jr.’s Zack Siler, makes a bet that he can turn an art-loving social outcast, Cook’s Laney Boggs, into prom queen.

The rest, my friend, is cinematic history.

She’s All That was a sleeper hit, reaching No. 1 and grossing over $100,000,000 at the worldwide box office on its way to leaving an indelible mark on the pop culture landscape. The film’s been parodied numerous times, most notably in Not Another Teen Movie, helped propel Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me” to worldwide phenomenon status, was immensely influential in the teen movie boom of the early 2000s, and helped launch the careers of a bevy of future stars, including Paul Walker, Anna Paquin, Dulé Hill, Kieran Culkin, Usher, Gabrielle Union, Elden Henson, Lil’ Kim, and Jodi Lyn O’Keefe.

If it sounds like I’m desperately trying to convince you of She’s All That’s cultural significance, it’s because, well, I am. Despite the movie’s aforementioned accolades, She’s All That has become a forgotten relic of ’90s ephemera, no more memorable than frosted tips, pogs, or thinking you look cool while dancing the Macarena. This is as understandable as it is unfortunate. She’s All That is a snapshot of a bygone era. I have an enduring affinity for this film because it premiered when I was in high school, but watching this movie for the first time in 2019 would be a surreal experience. From the pizza pubes scene (yep) to the impromptu prom dance off to the now iconic “new, not improved but different” Laney Bogg’s reveal, there’s a slew of memorable scenes we could revisit. But I’m only interested in one:

“Am I a bet? Am I a bet? Am I a fucking bet?!”

I irrationally love this scene. First, rewatch this literal gem and try to tell me with a straight face that Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook didn’t deliver the most emotive facial expressions in teen comedy history. You can’t. And if you can, no offense, but you’re a dumb liar.

Second, the angst. Oh sweet Stridex Pads the undeniable angst is palpable. Listen, I get it. Nobody’s winning an Oscar for She’s All That, but FPJ and RLC are, to borrow a phrase from ’90s parlance, living the theatrical vida loca. Look at Prinzey’s reaction shots! He’s emotionally devastated; Zack’s completely and utterly annihilated by Laney’s question.

Third, FUCK YOU, Taylor Vaughan.

What elevates this scene to all-time status is the explosive use of the word fuck. The old Hollywood legend is that you’re only allowed to say the term “fuck” once in a PG-13 film. Say it twice and you’re hit with the teen movie kryptonite known as an R-rating. Say it three times… Beetlejuice appears?!

Hilarious and not at all obvious jokes aside, the She’s All That script actually has two fucks, the first one occurring when Zack attacks Dean (Paul Walker) in the locker room. The audio is substantially distorted, which thankfully meant “fuck” was safe to use for Laney’s now famous f-bomb. Everything in She’s All That leads to this dramatic confrontation, so the fuck is not only earned but heightens the already fraught emotional tension between Zack and Laney. Since I’ve thought about this scene once a week for the past twenty years, I decided to contact She’s All That scribe R. Lee Fleming Jr. to get his thoughts on this classic moment. His answer provided a twist.

Before The Sixth Sense premiered and took the industry by storm, M. Night Shyamalan contributed to the She’s All That screenplay. Just how much the writer added to the film is debatable, but as it turns out, one of the most memorable fucks in teen comedy history was a Shyamalan original.

“My recollection is that particular moment, replete with F-bomb, was one of M. Night Shyamalan’s contributions,” Fleming told me via email. “And yes, as I learned during the course of writing the movie, you only get one “F***” in a PG-13. And in truth, had there been more of them, the moment when Laney said it wouldn’t have been anywhere as emotionally jarring.”

Who knew that M. Night Shyamalan’s greatest cinematic twist would be inserting the word fuck into the 1999 teen classic She’s All That? Haley Joel Osment, probably. But that’s it. Also, does this mean Matthew Lillard’s Real World character was dead the whole time?

Despite Hollywood’s best efforts, the lightning in a bottle known as She’s All That could never quite be duplicated with Prinze and Cook. FPJ would go on to star in a cluster of teen movies — Wing Commander, Down to You, Boys and Girls, Head Over Heels, Summer Catch — but none could match the magic of She’s All That. Similarly, Cook also starred in a spate of films marketed towards a younger audience: Antitrust, Blow Dry, the cult favorite Josie and the Pussycats, and Texas Rangers, a movie so rotten I once wrote an article titled “Texas Rangers Answers The Question ‘What Would Happen If a Cowboy Hat Became A Movie?’”

In typical She’s All That form, let’s pause for an intricately coordinated, extremely realistic dance break.

Is She’s All That a perfect movie? No. Is its overall message problematic? Sure. But for a certain sliver of the population, it’s an evocative pop culture time capsule that offers a pleasant reminder of simpler times. Is She’s All That worth a rewatch on its 20th anniversary? You fucking bet.

Where to stream She's All That