For better or for worse Veronica Mars gives fans of the old TV Show and Kickstarter backers almost everything they could possibly want. This is the rare film that I can absolutely say I was looking forward to seeing and it did not disappoint. Sure I can quibble about a few major omissions but Writer/Producer/Director Rob Thomas has done something truly special here. He’s shown Hollywood how you bring an old property to the big screen in a way that is sure to please fans, while potentially building a new fan base.
Without rehashing any covered ground, Thomas gives newbies the 411 on his sassy detective Veronica (Kristen Bell) in a beautiful 4-minute introduction. We find out exactly why she became a detective, why she quit, where she’s been and about her tragic relationship with bad boy Hollywood kid Logan Echols (Jason Dohring).
It’s been 9 years since she’s left that life behind and she’s happy being a marshmallow in New York, not making any waves with her boyfriend – the evil Piz (Chris Lowell), the guy we VM fans all want to punch in his dopey face. She’s on the verge of getting a high powered New York law firm when she gets a call from Logan asking her to help him get out of a jam. It seems he’s accused of murdering his girlfriend. Shouldn’t there be some three strikes law that says if you are involved in a murder more than 3 times you automatically get a little jail time for stupidity?
Fan service is in abundance here; we get plenty of cameos and extended appearances from old Veronica mainstays – Wallace (Percy Daggs III), Dick (Ryan Hansen), Weevil (Francis Capra), Mac (Tina Majorino), Deputy Leo (Max Greenfield) and a host of others. Veronica still has one of the coolest dads ever in the form of the always-amazing Keith (Enrico Colantoni). Jerry O’Connell joins the crew as the corrupt Sheriff Don Lamb, brother of the old corrupt Sheriff and Krysten Ritter returns as Gia. I never liked Gia, but this time out she has a lot more involvement in the show and we do get closure to her character. I miss Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23. I miss original Sheriff Lamb, but O’Connell does a decent job of playing his “clone.”
There are a LOT of characters that randomly appear to give Veronica bits of information, while it made me giddy to see a bunch of these old favorites. Non-fans may sit around wondering who are these people and why is the person next to me going nuts? There’s even a hysterical James Franco cameo that could only make sense in a Veronica Mars movie.
My only quibbles would be the ending to the town scandals and police corruption felt really abrupt and I didn’t like the conclusion to Weevil’s story. It felt forced and a bit unrealistic considering everything that Weevil had to lose by making the choice that he does. Now I may have blinked and missed them, but it would have been nice to see Duncan (Teddy Dunn) and Parker (Julie Gonzalo). I loved all the nods to the TV Show in more than just cameos, but just the style and feel of the film was 100% season one Veronica Mars.
Once again Thomas shows why his intricate storytelling set Mars apart from standard TV fare and now movie telling. His mysteries almost never unfold in a straight line, it’s always a jagged edge that twists and turns. We get a pretty complex murder mystery plot that grows into other sub mysteries. I don’t want to go into detail and spoil it. The dialogue in this is pure gold; it’s wonderfully sarcastic, strange and witty, while maintaining the seriousness of the situation. There are some really shocking, gasp worthy moments where I was on the edge of my seat. Thomas and company clearly seem interested in keeping the franchise going as they left it in a very satisfying place with everything wrapped up nice and neat, but leaving plenty of room for more visits to the cozy hamlet of Neptune, Ca.
Final Grade A+