Veronica
Mars
Don’t call it a comeback. Veronica Mars never went away.
It has been ten years since Veronica (Kristen Bell) graduated from
Neptune High, and life is pretty good. She has a degree from Stanford,
successfully completed Columbia Law School, and the young lady is
sitting in an interview to work for one of the most prestigious law
firms in the world. Yet, Neptune is calling again (just let it go to
voice mail!).
Veronica’s classmate, Carrie Bishop (Andrea Estella), went on
to become a famous pop star, but the young singer has been found
murdered! Worse yet, the accused murderer is none other than her
current boyfriend, and Veronica’s long time, estranged love,
Logan (Jason Dohring).
When Logan calls, Veronica is willing to drop everything to head out to
California to help him find a suitable lawyer, but she can’t
tamp down the old detective fire burning inside of her (don’t
they have meds for that?), and she’s ready to find out who
framed Logan, no matter what she loses in the process!
Who is the murderer?
How far is Veronica willing to go to solve the case?
I never watched an episode of Veronica
Mars when it was on TV, but you
don’t need to be a die hard fan to like the film. And, if you
loved Veronica Mars
on TV, you will be enraptured all over again.
Writer/director Rob Thomas along with co-writer Diane Ruggerio make
sure to give the audience a quick Veronica Mars recap at the
beginning
to help the non-initiated catch up, but, after that, the audience is
drawn in by a good story, decent mystery and some fun dialogue to make
our hero and her pals the cool people you want to be friends with for
all of the right reasons.
Sure, much of the movie is made for the longtime fans with plenty of
re-appearances by the characters they followed for several years, but,
ultimately, Veronica Mars is a good movie because it’s a
good
movie.
Thomas and Ruggerio bring Neptune to life like some vivid purgatory for
humanity where the Haves battle the Have Nots, and temptation is around
every corner. However, everyone here in this purgatory has better
dialogue. Veronica and the gang are a bunch of smart asses, and
that’s what makes it entertaining, especially the loving
relationship between father and daughter complete with playful jousting
and true concern and caring for each other.
The only problem with Veronica Mars is the scope. Instead of
giving us
more detail and twists in the main plot, Thomas and Ruggerio become
distracted with making us believe something bigger is afoot by floating
the idea of a larger conspiracy with monumental consequences involving
the most powerful of Neptune, but we just need to focus on this case
and this mystery (no matter how much the producers wants to set us up
for a sequel).
After no Hollywood studio had the interest to make Veronica
Mars, the movie was funded by
over 91,000 fans through a history making Kickstarter campaign, so the
release is just as unconventional as the financing. Veronica Mars
is
playing on about 270 screens this week, but will also debut via Video
On Demand on cable systems all across the country, so no fan will miss
out on the fun.
Veronica
Mars is rated PG-13 for sexuality including references, drug content,
violence and some strong language.
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