You Again

I’ve come to like Kristen Bell in the last few years, especially after I started watching Veronica Mars.  I was interested in her new movie, You Again, after seeing previews and seeing who else is in the movie.

Marni was the target of a bully in high school that made her life miserable.  After high school, Marni made some changes and how has a successful career.  She is horrified when she learns that her older brother is marrying Joanna, the girl who bullied her in high school.  It gets worse when Joanna acts like she doesn’t know Marni.  Convinced that Joanna is wrong for her brother, Marni decides to try to stop the wedding.  Marni’s mother Gail and Joanna’s aunt Ramona went to high school together, but they haven’t seen each other in years.  It seems they have lingering issues as well.

I managed to enjoy You Again overall, though it isn’t going to appeal to everyone.  Some people will be turned off by the fact that the movie deals with bullying.  Some flashbacks are used to show what happened when Marni was in high school and some of those scenes aren’t that pleasant.  Joanna was downright cruel, which unfortunately, I think is fairly accurate with how some teenagers act.  The movie chooses to deal with the serious subject of bullying in a more humorous and lighthearted way.  That may bother some people, especially with the real life bullying incidents that have happened recently.

You Again ends up having the female characters act like unreasonable idiots with how they deal with things.  It makes sense that Marni isn’t happy about her brother marrying Joanna or the fact that Joanna acts like she doesn’t remember her.  The way that Marni chooses to deal with that makes her look like a manipulative witch.  Joanna handles things badly, deciding to make little digs to try to put Marni down instead of dealing with things like an adult.  Gail and Ramona don’t deal with their issues any better, ending up in a fight that puts them both in a swimming pool.  Instead of trying to deal with problems, the woman act like jealous idiots.  The men, even though they are in much less of the movie, are made to look like the only calm, rational people around.  At one point, Marni’s father actually sends her and her mother to their rooms.  The movie does not portray women in a good way, and that is bound to upset some people.

Even though the women act like idiots, they still manage to be entertaining.  Their antics do add some humor to You Again.  Much of the humor is more silly in nature, but I do think it manages to work overall.  There are a few really funny moments in the movie, though other things that are intended to be funny don’t really work.  The plot isn’t the most original since other movies have featured characters that have been miserable in high school.  Having Marni’s tormentor marry her brother is a bit different, but the movie is still very predictable overall.

There really isn’t much development for any of the characters in You Again.  The characters are interesting enough, though it is a bit hard to like many of them.  I did think the cast did a good job with what they had to work with.

Overall, You Again has issues, but it can be entertaining overall if it isn’t taken seriously.  Fans of the cast may find something to like about the movie.

I did get a longer review posted on Epinions.

You Again

You Again

Veronica Mars - The Complete Second Season

I first heard about the television series Veronica Mars several years ago when it was still airing. I didn’t pay much attention to what I heard about the show at that point and I didn’t watch at that time. Since then, I’ve read and heard more about the show and I decided to pick up the DVD sets when I found them on sale. I recently finished watching Veronica Mars - The Complete Second Season.

The second season of Veronica Mars picks up a little while after the end of the first one. Some things from the first season do carry over into this season, so it is best to watch the episodes in order.

Once again, Veronica deals with several mysteries in these episodes. Some are rather simple and easy for her to resolve and others are more complex.  Just about all of them are entertaining in some way. There is one that runs through the entire season and is dealt with in some way in several of the episodes. That is resolved by the last episode in the set.

The same main group of characters in back. The characters are more complex and all of them have flaws. That makes them more believable, but it is also harder to like some of them at times, including Veronica.  I continue to think that Kristen Bell does a good job with the part.

There are only a few extras on the DVD set. Despite that, I still think the set is worth getting, especially for fans of the show. The second season is very entertaining and definitely worth watching for people who liked the first season.

I did get a longer review posted on Epinions.

Veronica Mars - The Complete Second Season

Veronica Mars - The Complete First Season

Veronica Mars is a television show that I've heard about for years before finally watching it.  I had read a few positive reviews of the seasons on Epinions.  In the last few years, I've heard more about how good the show is on a movie board I joined.  Earlier this year, I tracked down some episodes online.  I really enjoyed them and decided that I wanted the DVD sets.  I tracked down a sale and got all three seasons.

Veronica Mars is a wonderful show about a teenager, Veronica Mars, who works with her father Keith in his detective agency.  Even though the main character is a teenager and much of what happens is tied to high school in some way, this show isn't just for teenagers.  I actually think it is more for adults than teenagers because of the different subject matters that pop up every so often.  The show is set in Neptune, a fictional southern California town.

Most of the episodes have a mystery of some sort that Veronica works on and solves by the end of the episode.  The season also has a few season long mysteries that Veronica is trying to solve.  The main one involves the murder of her best friend, Lilly Kane.  Keith was the sheriff at the time of the murder.  People in Neptune, especially the Kane family, weren't happy with how he handled the investigation and it wasn't long before he was recalled.  After that, Veronica lost her popular friends at school, they had to move to a small apartment, and Keith's wife left.  Someone was arrested, but Veronica doesn't believe he is the killer, so she does her own investigating.  She is also trying to find her mother during the season.  The mystery elements work very well to the make episodes entertaining.  Time is also taken to deal with other issues Veronica has, like with her friends and love life.

The characters are all interesting, though not all likable.  A few of them are jerks, but that works for what is going on.  None of the characters are all good or all bad, which makes them more believable.  Even Veronica has some flaws.  Kristen Bell is wonderful in the part.  The rest of the cast does well with their parts too.

I'm very glad that I decided to start watching Veronica Mars.  I loved the first season and will probably start on the second season before long.  It is too bad that such a good show was canceled after only three seasons, though it is probably lucky that the show had the chance to last that long.  I have a feeling if it had been on a different network, it may not have lasted as long as it did.

I did get a longer review posted on Epinions.

Veronica Mars - The Complete First Season