ORANGE? BLORANGE? MORANGE? I suspect there may be some desire amongst folks to discuss Veronica Mars, which, if you were interested in seeing a Veronica Mars movie, is pretty decent, but isn't likely to win new converts, I think, and has a couple of delightful cameos. Two spoiler-y thoughts after the jump:
1. Given that Logan/Veronica 'shippers were assuredly the backbone of the Kickstarter supporters, it's unsurprising that the movie goes back there. That said, credit to Thomas and Ruggiero for having the self-awareness to have their heroine say that pursuing a relationship with him (and staying in Neptune) is ultimately an addictive/self-destructive endeavor. (Dohring, unfortunately, hasn't gotten any better as an actor in the years since the show left the air.)
2. Dick Casablancas is a fan favorite, and Ryan Hansen playing a lunkhead is always fun, but doesn't the film kind of jump through a hoop at the end to let him off the hook? He was on the boat where the incident underlying the blackmail that drives the film's plot took place, but that's explained away with "oh, he passed out earlier in the evening."
Sadly, the more I think about the movie, the less I like it.
ReplyDelete1. I have a big problem accepting that these characters all still live in Neptune after all these horrible things have happened to them and/or people they love. Wallace, Mac, Weevil? Gia Goodman? Dick Casablancas? Wouldn't they all want to be as far from Neptune as possible?
2. I hated the ending. HATED it. I think there's a way to bring Veronica back to Neptune permanently, but this was NOT it. And though I can almost accept a reunion hookup with Logan - but what had been an excusable but questionable decision when Veronica was 18 looks like an indefensible mistake when she's 28.
3. Did NONE of these people change in the decade since high school? That's even more depressing.
So, basically, I think I got my money's worth with this movie: a $4.99 rental from iTunes.
I was never a huge shipper (more Team Whatever is Best for Veronica) but I enjoyed the movie.
ReplyDeleteI did notice that Dick ended up conveniently off the hook, it wasn't necessarily hard to believe that someone would have been passed out through all of it, but yeah.
I thought it was great. To Randy's point below, it seems very likely most of those people did not change, but some did (Weevil). As far as letting Dick off the hook, it seems pretty reasonable that he would get bored, get bombed and black out instead of socializing with the rest of the people on the boat.
ReplyDeleteEvery cameo was gold. Vinny. Franco. Leo. I didn't realize I'd get so excited to see Cliff, but there we were.
I enjoyed it a great deal. Not an Oscar contender, to be sure, but I had a great time.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with everything Alan said in his spoiler-version review. The plot suffered from the need to do fan service, and that's to be expected, but what brilliant fan service it was. Great cameos (and I, too, am a huge Cliff fan and was starting to get antsy that he hadn't shown up yet...), crackling dialogue, Keith's joy at finding Veronica answering his phone.... It was funny, it was suspenseful, and it was well worth my kickstarter donation to help get this made.
(Adam, see Alan's note about why Dick gets to be the way he is without Veronica destroying him...)
I really enjoyed this movie and have only few and only minute notes of annoyance:
ReplyDelete1) The trope of "you-didn't-show-up-to-dinner-with-my-parents-and-I-am-therefore-leaving-you" drives me nuts, because come on. Everyone's fine with it because smoochytimesLoganVeronicaOMGz, but why even have him around, then?
2) It took a while for Dick to grow back on me. Ugh. PUNS. But his first scene was grating.
3) Keith Mars, your daughter is a grown woman in a monogamous relationship. What's with the slut-shaming? That said, go Veronica.
Still, I think it did a great job of reintroducing the characters, advancing the protagonists' skillsets, and establishing inroads for new adventures. I was never really interested in Veronica Mars, FBI agent, but Veronica running the show at Mars Investigations with Mac in the Amanda Pays role works for me.
This movie felt of-a-whole with the series, the same way Serenity did for me. I felt like the story was continuing, not being snapped off into movie world, but I didn't feel like I was watching TV on a giant screen. I think it did its job.
I didn't see Keith's teasing as slut-shaming--in fact, I saw it as more targeted at Piz with a "you don't have to hide" message. But that may just be because Keith Mars is awesome.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm touchy because I've been subject to the "not-under-our-roof" behavior from parents before (although my future in-laws have never pulled that one). Maybe it wasn't slut-shaming so much as infantilizing, but there it is.
ReplyDeleteI like Keith Mars most of the time, but, and this is actually strength in the writing causing this, my brains fire weird when he addresses matters of his daughter and sex. It's all just so awkwardsauce.
You can make the argument that returning to Neptune is self-destructive for Veronica, but getting back with Logan isn't, I don't think. Logan, as he was in the movie, is not the same guy from the show. He's a lot more mellow and more mature (and Veronica seems to have gotten past a lot of her trust issues).
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