The 2021 remake He’s All That cast a popular actress from the original, She’s All That — but as a completely different character. The original 1999 romantic comedy received mixed reviews but was a hit with audiences, and Netflix has now released a gender-swapped remake for the social media age. The new film is directed by Mark Waters, from a script by R. Lee Fleming Jr., who also penned the original.
She’s All That stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as Zack Siler, a high school jock recently dumped by his girlfriend. To preserve his image, Zack bets he can turn the art geek and social outcast Laney Boggs (Rachel Leigh Cook) into a prom queen. Netflix’s He’s All That takes the same premise but instead follows social media influencer Padgett Sawyer (TikTok star Addison Rae). Humiliated after her boyfriend is publicly caught cheating on her, she endeavors to transform loner Cameron Kweller (Cobra Kai star Tanner Buchanan) into prom king.
Although He’s All That concerns a new set of characters, Rachael Leigh Cook appears in a supporting role. Contrary to what many believed when her casting was first announced, Cook doesn’t play an adult Laney but rather the mother of Padgett. While it hasn’t been revealed why Cook plays a new character instead of Laney, it makes sense for a remake to give her a new role rather than draw further attention to the original. Cook’s presence helps bridge the films and will appeal to those fond of She's All That.
Cook's Anna Sawyer is a nurse and single mother, with the actress effectively passing the torch to her fictional daughter. Some may be disappointed not to see Laney’s return, but He's All That is a remake after all, not a sequel. To have Laney appear, presumably still in the role of Padgett’s mother, would be too convenient for the plot. It’s unlikely Laney would allow another cruel bet to take place, having undergone the same humiliation as Cameron, and she’s too intelligent not to realize what is going on. Even if Laney and Padgett weren’t related, it would be unwise to force her character into He’s All That’s story. If either Laney or Zack returned, this would just be a distraction from the new protagonists and draw even more inevitable comparisons to the original. Instead, Cook has a similar, albeit inferior, role to Laney's father (Kevin Pollak) in the original.
In She’s All That, Laney was an isolated, working-class student hoping to attend art school after graduation. Her humble background provided an interesting contrast with Zack’s affluent family, with some discussion of the class divide and the difficulties of opening yourself up to other people and allowing vulnerability. Cook's role in He’s All That is simply a fun bit of meta-casting, with one heavy nod to the original, but otherwise surprisingly few references. This is probably because the plot is already a beat-for-beat retread, only far tamer and now with on-screen text messages and phones galore. Cook's involvement also shows the filmmakers don’t want to distance themselves too much from She’s All That, especially as the performances are arguably more fondly remembered than the story. Cook isn’t the only returning performer, as Matthew Lillard (Scream) switches from the original's self-obsessed reality star Brock Hudson to high school Principal Bosch.
Both roles are essentially designed to have the actors dance along to a remix of "Kiss Me". Of course, casting Rachel Leigh Cook in He’s All That won’t protect the remake from viewers who’d rather see more of Laney Boggs and revel in 1990s nostalgia. She’s All That hasn’t aged well, but the chemistry between its cast almost makes up for its lack of sensitivity towards a delicate premise.