The Kickstarter financing begins. If Veronica Mars is any indication, we’re off to a good start. Veronica Mars the TV show was a fun smart TV show with a die-hard fan base. Veronica Mars the movie is a fun smart film that deserves a wider audience than just a cult one. It does what the Kickstarter campaign ideally wanted: it pays service to die-hard fans without alienating them while succinctly explaining the world of Neptune, California to interested casual fans without feeling lost. Novice (myself) and avid (friends) fans were laughing together, indistinguishable from one another.
It’s been 9 years since Ms. Mars (Kristen Bell) left her hometown of Neptune for law school and New York. Living comfortably with Piz (Chris Lowell), she is being recruited for a high-priced law firm. Neptune comes back into her orbit (the first of many planet puns) in the form of her tumultuous former lover Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring). Logan is under investigation for murder of his girlfriend Carrie Bishop (Andrea Estella). Veronica heads home where she reconnects with her father Keith (Enrico Colantoni) and best friends Mac (Tina Majorino) and Wallace (Percy Daggs III). Conveniently, Veronica’s 10 year reunion from high school occurs the same weekend, at which some other suspects in Bishop’s murder are attending, as well as former rivals, character arcs, and cameos.
After watching the movie, I went back and checked on some of the characters involved in the plot and some of the character moments. Creator/Writer/Director Rob Thomas deserves lots of credit for taking his time and incorporating the right parts of his TV series. It seems as if once a minute for the entire running time Veronica Mars generated whispers amongst the audience through a reference or a tangential character, each of whom get a moment in the sun. In this case, character backstory is already established so bringing it up in movie form can be done in the funniest way possible. I was amazed to see how many famous people appeared in the series, including Krysten Ritter, Max Greenfield, Tina Majorino, and Ken Marino. Veronica Mars also contains a multitude of cameos inducing smiles all around. I won’t spoil these, but some movies these people have appeared in are This Is the End, Dodgeball, Freaky Friday, Without a Paddle, Knocked Up, and Piranha 3DD. Of the recurring characters, Enrico Colantoni gets to play the moral center well, and Ryan Hansen deserves a spin-off as Logan’s roommate. Jason Dohring tries, but he is the weak link here, mostly acting stiff. However, Kristen Bell carries this movie on her tiny shoulders. Bell has to be equally tough, perky, witty, and clever in doses, and she delivers in almost every scene she is in. It’s easy to see why the Kickstarter campaign worked; Bell’s Mars is such an entertaining creation in large credit to the actress.
In terms of story, Veronica Mars is pretty basic. What was clearly a crazy love triangle in the TV show is pushed to the side in favor of the murder mystery. The sheer magnitude of famous people leave the ending a little up in the air, though I suspect some the die hards picked out the bad guy pretty easily. The techniques used for Veronica’s investigation into the murder are delightfully modern (with a couple of exceptions), with the use of IPads, Youtube, and sex tapes incorporated into slideshows. Some of Veronica’s techniques require stupid behavior from the characters (and some obvious plot developments), but those behaviors are forgiven due to the movie’s comedic component. It is here where Veronica Mars soars; everyone houses some sort of issue with another character, adding bite to every interactions. The digs are quick and specific: a key to most successful jokes.
Like any good remake of old material, Veronica Mars makes me want to spend more time in Neptune seeing what else goes on there. Depending on the movie’s success, sequels are possible but not necessary. As a movie fan though, I now have high hopes for Kickstarter; this project reminds us why Kristen Bell is a good movie actress, and how fan support can deliver results out of this world (sorry).