Is 'She'S All That' A 90s Or 2000s Movie?

'She's All That' is one of those flicks that perfectly captures the late '90s vibe—it dropped in 1999, right on the cusp of the new millennium, but it's dripping with that quintessential '90s teen movie energy. The fashion alone is a time capsule: think plaid skirts, chokers, and those awkwardly baggy jeans. The soundtrack? Packed with hits from bands like Sixpence None the Richer and Fatboy Slim, which scream '90s nostalgia. The plot, where a popular guy bets he can turn an artsy 'ugly duckling' into prom queen, feels like a relic of pre-Y2K high school tropes. It’s got that same self-aware cheesiness as 'Clueless' or '10 Things I Hate About You,' but with a slightly more earnest edge.

Watching it now, it’s wild how much it leans into the era’s tropes—the makeover montage, the quirky best friend, the villainous ex-girlfriend. Even the dialogue has that snappy, slightly over-the-top quality that '90s teen comedies nailed. While it technically straddles the line between decades, I’d argue it belongs firmly in the '90s culturally. It doesn’t have the glossy, post-'American Pie' raunchiness that defined early 2000s teen movies. Instead, it’s got this earnest, almost innocent charm that feels distinctly of its time. Plus, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook’s chemistry is pure '90s magic—like a time machine to a simpler, pre-social media era of rom-coms.