Main Cast: Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, Elaine Hendrix, Harland Williams, Mark McKinney
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Molly Shannon brings her Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher to the silver screen. A mildly hyperactive Catholic school student convinced that she smells bad, Mary Catherine has a dream: she wants a boy to kiss her. Not just any old sloppy teenage make-out party kind of smooch, but the sort of kiss that will make her tingle with joy from head to toe. The trouble is, boys aren't all that interested in Mary Catherine, especially not Sky (Will Ferrell), the boy she'd most like to be kissed by. So Mary Catherine has a goal: if she wants to be kissed the way boys kiss girls in the movies, then she must become a movie star. Not a bad idea, but how does one bring this about? Superstar co-stars Elaine Hendrix and former Kids in the Hall cast member Mark McKinney, while another Kids in the Hall alumnus, Bruce McCulloch, directed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Glynis Johns - Grandma; Gerry Bamman - Father John; Jason Blicker - Howard; Natalie Radford - Autum; Jennifer Irwin - Maria Ganitisis; Rob Stefaniuk - Thomas Smith; Karyn Dwyer - Summer; Tom Green - Dylan; Emmy Laybourne - Helen Lewengrub
Credit
Peter Grundy - Art Director, Albert Botha - Associate Producer, Phyllis Huffman - Casting, Erin Fraser - Co-producer, Steve Koren - Co-producer, Eydi Caines-Floyd - Costume Designer, Lisa Campbell - First Assistant Director, Bruce McCulloch - Director, Malcolm Campbell - Editor, Robert Weiss - Executive Producer, Susan Cavan - Executive Producer, Michael Gore - Composer (Music Score), Elliot Lurie - Musical Direction/Supervision, Gregory Keen - Production Designer, Walt Lloyd - Cinematographer, Lorne Michaels - Producer, Doug McCullough - Set Designer, Dan Munro - Sound/Sound Designer, Randle Akerson - Sound Editor, David B. Cohn - Sound Editor, Steve Koren - Screenwriter
It stars Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell and Elaine Hendrix. SNL and Kids in the Hall alum Mark McKinney, who appeared in many of the Mary Katherine Gallagher SNL skits on TV, also has a minor role as a priest.
Mary Katherine Gallagher (Shannon) is an Irish-AmericanCatholic school girl and social outcast in a Catholic high school. She wants to be a superstar so she can get a kiss from Sky Corrigan (Ferrell). When Mary is sent to Special Education, she makes a new best friend, the tomboyish and equally socially-awkward Helen Lewengrub (Emmy Laybourne).
Mary sees her chance to become a superstar when her school promotes a talent show. She wants to try out, but Grandma Gallagher (Glynis Johns), will not let her. Mary tries out anyway, and when she goes to sign up, a stereotypical cheerleader, Evian Carrie Graham (Elaine Hendrix), gets in a fight with her. The fight causes Evian and Sky to break up, and now Sky is a "single hunk of beefcake on the rebound". Mary is now determined to get in the talent show so Sky will notice her. When Grandma Gallagher finds out that her granddaughter got into the talent show, she finally tells the truth about how her parents died - they were stomped to death while performing in a Riverdance-like competition. This is why Grandma Gallagher is against her granddaughter performing.
However, Grandma Gallagher decides to help Mary do her act in the talent show, as long as she performs for herself. Mary and the other Special Education students spend days practicing. Mary wins the competition as well as Sky's heart. When she kisses Sky though, she discovers he is a horrible kisser and chooses to kiss her friend Slater (Harland Williams) instead.
Every car in the background is a Volkswagen New Beetle, although it's unknown if VW helped finance the film, but this would continue in the line of Adam Sandler's films, which often promote brands without compensation, such as Popeye's chicken in Little Nicky, and numerous store-chains in Eight Crazy Nights.
Some scenes were from Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby, Ontario. In one scene the actors were coming outside from a big archway, at which two bronze lions stood on either side but were taken out in editing.
