15 Dumb Movies Which Are Secretly Smart

10. Josie And The Pussycats

You'd be forgiven for assuming that Josie and the Pussycats was just another early-2000s teen comedy, especially with two of the lead roles being played by "It girls" of the period, Rachael Leigh Cook and Tara Reid.

Critics were largely indifferent to the film on initial release, with much scorn being directed towards its excessive product placement.

However, this is to ignore that the movie itself is a send-up of the commercialisation of the music industry, where marketing trends dictate the art rather than the other way around.

Indeed, barely a few moments pass in Josie and the Pussycats without some sort of product being shilled on the screen - for companies such as McDonalds, Target and Starbucks - but this quite ingeniously adds a meta-textual layer to the film's railing against art for the sake of commerce (rather than for its own sake).

Some have accused the filmmakers of being hypocritical, in being paid to promote products in a film criticising the very same thing, but here's the kicker: the production didn't accept any money for its product placements, doing them entirely for the sake of a feature-length running gag. Clever.