Those fans may have been surprised to see her biggest films post VERONICA to be lightweight romantic comedies. You can’t blame her for appearing in the films, as more people saw them than the cult hit TV series, but it was a departure for her.
In YOU AGAIN, Kristen plays Marnie, a successful PR executive, who has finally made something of herself after a traumatic time of being a geeky high schooler. She is called home because her brother (Jimmy Wolk of the late great TV series LONE STAR) is about to be married.
Her brother’s fiance, Joanne (Odette Yustman), turns out to be Marnie’s high school bully, who made life miserable for her. Joanna claims to not remember Marnie. To make matters worse, everyone loves Joanna, including Marnie’s mom (Jamie Lee Curtis) and even her grandma (Betty White). Has she really changed or is she out to hurt her brother?
To add to the drama, Joanna’s aunt (Sigourney Weaver) was the high school nemesis of Curtis.
YOU AGAIN has a great cast. Also appearing are Krisin Chenoweth as the wedding planner, Victor Garber as Marnie’s father and several cameos that I won’t give away.
The problem is that while this could have been a very funny 90 minute movie, it instead runs 105 minutes. There are pacing issues where some scenes go on a bit too long, others could have been dropped altogether.
The script seems to be a mess as well, like it was a first draft that needed a bit of fixing. There is one scene toward the end where the impact of bullying is talked about in a very serious and realistic manner, yet there are also countless scenes that require Bell to resort to some bit of physical comedy that ends with her covered in mud or soup to humiliate her.
Still, the cast is likable. With a lesser cast, it wouldn’t have been worth seeing. But as it stands, it might be worth seeing. A bit of a warning, while Betty White was prominently billed in the advertising, if you saw the trailers you saw most of her role.
The Blu-ray has several extras that prove that the cast probably had a lot of fun making the film. There is a genuinely funny blooper reel along with a few cast featurettes (including a “Funny or Die” skit) that are well worth viewing. There are also twenty minutes of deleted scenes with filmmaker introduction.
YOU AGAIN is available on DVD and Blu-Ray on February 8th from Touchstone Pictures Home Video.
1 comments:
I just discovered Veronica Mars thanks to Netflix Streaming. Previously my only exposure was Forgetting Sarah Marsahll. You're right that now I'm more apt to seek her out. This doesn't look terrible, and the great cast could push it over the top (Into mediocre instead of bad). Great review. - YBLM
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