Veronica Mars (2014)

Simply A Masterpiece

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A long time ago, we used to be friends, but I haven't thought of you lately at all. That is until about a year ago, 'Veronica Mars' creator Rob Thomas and Veronica herself Kristen Bell took to the crowd-funder website Kickstarter and asked us fans of the amazing TV show 'Veronica Mars' to fund a feature film. Warner Bros. told Bell and Thomas that if they successfully funded the $2 million dollar budget, that they would match that and distribute and market the movie.Well in under 24 hours after Thomas and Bell launched the Kickstarter page, they had successfully funded their film. Not only that, but by the end of the Kickstarter Fund, they had raised more than $5 million. So us fans have now received a full fledged 'Veronica Mars' movie with almost every character from the show coming back. And I'm super psyched to report that the 'Veronica Mars' movie is everything I hoped it could be and more. It was just fantastic with every nuance, detail, homage, wink, and high-five from the series, showing up in this film. That being said, in order to truly benefit and enjoy this film, you most likely will have wanted to watch the original three season series from ten years ago and enjoyed it.Because if you didn't, then you might find yourself lost in the middle of an inside joke that you don't understand, and will wonder why everyone around you in the theater is laughing and smiling. But that was the point of this film. It was for the fans with the small hope that it would create new fans of the characters. As a critic, it's a little difficult to review a movie like this, because on one hand, I loved it so much and can't wait to watch it over and over again. But maybe that's because I'm such a huge fan of the show. On the other hand, there are plenty of flaws with the film that might turn non-fans away.I'm going to stick with my original statement in that 'Veronica Mars' the movie is AMAZING, since again, this is strictly for the fans, and Thomas and Bell deliver the goods on every level. The film is set ten years later as we have our iconic and witty character Veronica Mars interviewing for a job as a high-powered attorney in New York City. She went to the best schools and has worked hard to get where she is at, which is in front of Jamie Lee Curtis, one of the heads of the firm. After the awkward, witty, and successful interview, she heads to the studio of 'This American Life' where Ira Glass makes an appearance, and where Veronica's boyfriend Piz (Chris Lowell) works to tell him about the interview.She then sees on a television on the wall a news story that says a girl from her high- school was found murdered and that Logan Echols (Jason Dohring) is the suspect. As soon as the news story finishes, Veronica's phone rings with Logan asking Veronica for help on the other line. Next thing you know, we are back in Neptune, California, and Veronica tells us that it has been nine years since she has seen or spoken to Logan.Logan has seemed to clean up his life for the most part, as he is a jet pilot for the army and when he is on leave, spends it with Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen), who is as funny as ever and is doing what you'd expect him to be doing ten years later, which is living in a cool house on the beach, watching porn, drinking alcohol, and surfing. Meanwhile, Veronica's friends Mac (Tina Majorino) and Wallace (Percy Daggs III) are working in Neptune and are pretty successful. They show up to welcome Veronica back for a few days and to convince her to go to their ten year high-school reunion.Veronica's dad is still a P.I. and the evil Sheriff Lamb has been replaced by his younger brother played by Jerry O'Connell. And let's not forget about Weevil (Frances Capra) who seems to have turned his life around and has a great family now. Basically, you're gonna get everyone you want in this movie in some form or fashion. But it's not all smiles in Neptune, as we've come to know when Veronica is solving a case, which is murder this time around. Rob Thomas gives us a fantastic story with lots of twists and turns to keep us guessing, complete with that witty and fast dialogue that we have come to love from the television show. He also gives us each character in a way that we have wanted to see them for ten years, no matter how small their role was in the series. It's quite a fun couple of hours.But Rob Thomas has mostly worked in television, and not to much in the feature film arena. And it shows. The film is shot like a long episode of television that doesn't always transfer well onto the big screen. Thomas also leaves a few things very open ended, as if he didn't have enough money to finish the project, or was leaving something else for a sequel. But the way it's done is awkward as shown when certain characters pop up and do something drastic and are never heard from again. It just didn't make a lot of sense. But other than those few things, the film is a little bit of perfect for fans of the show. It gives us everything we wanted right on down to the theme song. If you're a fan of 'Veronica Mars', this is the movie you've been waiting ten long years for. It won't disappoint at all.

It's always like this: A smart-ass girl/boy/teen/guy with some instincts/talents/whatever solves a stupid puzzle. What's the point? To keep the audiences entertained? Or to humiliate them? It's funny how people support this stupidity. I don't mean the backers, but those who maintain the rating of this master-shite about 7. Innovation is dead. People think they are innovative but they don't know even the basic factors. Their target in kickstarter was about 2,000,000 dollars, but out of the blue they ended up with nearly 6,000,000. But it's funny to see the whole movie is flourished by SAMSUNG. Yes my friend! It's all about money! They reproduce the same old shite in different colors over and over. If you want to make a comedy go watch The Big Lebowski, Groundhog Day, Annie hall, etc., and learn something. If you cannot make something better than those movies at least try not to disrespect the audience. How Veronica Mars wakes up at the end of the movie with a pretty sharp make up. Even the black material in her eyes is not messed up! I believe there are two types of audiences these days, those who crave for movies like this and those who don't. The second group are always the victims! By the way, which part of the movie was funny? Why it's labeled comedy?

I never watched Veronica Mars when it was on UPN (and later the CW network). It aired from 2004 to 2007 and during those years nearly all of my TV habits revolved around watching LOST, talking about LOST and ravenously eating up all the LOST theories that were floating around the internet. I vaguely remember Veronica Mars and that's primarily due to a poster advertisement hanging outside the mall arcade by the main doors. Even if I hadn't been obsessed with LOST, I can tell you that after watching Veronica Mars: The Movie, this was not a show I would have been tuning in to week after week. I chose to go into the movie completely cold. I wanted to judge this film as just that, a film. The only preparation I made was to watch the trailer which didn't really tell me a whole lot other than this was definitely not something I would go see on my own accord. The good news is that you don't have to have any prior knowledge of this movie's universe. It swiftly lays out the all the exposition you need right in the first few minutes without feeling too clunky or forced. Score one for the movie.Veronica Mars is an excellent finale for a show that never truly got one. That this movie even came to fruition is evidence enough of its fans love for the show; they're the ones who funded this thing after all. The film's director, Rob Thomas (not the J.O. with the mullet from that band) and star, Kristen Bell (yes, the blonde who married the other guy from MTV's Punk'd – not Ashton though) put the film on Kickstarter with the goal of raising two million dollars. It went up to nearly six million! That's some intense fanboy love. What's more, I sat in a packed to capacity theater for an advance screening of this movie. That speaks volumes as to how much fans of the show care about what happens to these characters seven years later. Score another one for the movie.So how is the movie? Well, that's where the problem lies. This isn't really a movie. This looks and feels like a 107 minute episode of Veronica Mars. That's not to say anything bad about what I watched on the movie screen other than I should not have been watching it on a movie screen. This is television through and through. This is made evident several times, utilizing such TV tropes as:Insinuating sex with characters kissing and breathing into each other's face while indie music from 2005 plays. A sex scene which is literally just two legs sticking out of the bed sheets. A dramatic event occurs and the screen fades to black as if we're about to watch a Pepsi commercial. I'm not saying this doesn't make for good television, but it is television all the same. That fact will not stop fans of the show from buying tickets, however. And why should it? They've already paid to have it filmed, what's another $10 to see the whole thing through to the end?Fans of the show will absolutely be satisfied with what they see and most likely enjoy every minute of it. A majority of the people in attendance were adults in their mid-to-late twenties. Many of them were probably fans of the show before they could even drink a beer. That same demographic are also most likely to go to the movies. What I'm getting at here is that this two-part television miniseries, filmed for six million dollars, has a very good chance at being a huge hit. Add another point to the movie's score.The issue I'm having is that this is a film review site and I'm charged with reviewing films. That Veronica Mars is an entertaining and satisfying piece of television can only carry it so far. As a movie, this will not do. As a movie, these characters and their motivations are wafer thin. As a movie, the plot doesn't really work. So how do I rate this thing?As a movie it's a 4.As a final episode to a TV series it's an 8.I'm just going to have to split the difference.

I must confess that I've seen only a few episodes of "Veronica Mars," the cult series that ran on cable TV from 2004 to 2007. I make that declaration right up front merely to emphasize that I come to the movie version largely unencumbered by any pre-conceived notions of what it ought to be.The movie picks up nine years after the close of the series. Veronica Mars, the famous teen private eye who worked out of her dad's PI office through most of high school, has long ago put away her amateur sleuthing in favor of law school, with the hope of securing a promising job with a prestigious law firm in New York City. However, when her ex- boyfriend (Jason Dohring) is charged with killing his celebrity girlfriend, Veronica returns to her hometown of Neptune, California, to help clear his name and find the actual culprit.For fans of the show, the movie version of "Veronica Mars" is clearly the equivalent of old home week, giving devotees a chance to catch up with old friends, seeing how much they've changed and finding out what they've all been up to since last they checked in on them. Indeed, it is nearly impossible to overstate the emotional pull and feeling of connection that often come with serialized television shows. For non- fans, however, the movie can't possibly generate nearly as much interest or affection, and the call-backs and in-jokes are lost on that particular segment of the audience. Moreover, the murder mystery plot that director Rob Thomas and his co- writer Diane Ruggiero have come up with is serviceable at best and boring at worst. Kristen Bell is captivating and winning as the clever and feisty Veronica, and she is aided by a bevy of subsidiary performers who have clearly grown quite comfortable in the roles they're playing. However, fun as it obviously was for the actors to re-unite on this project, that sense of fun doesn't always translate to the screen. Indeed, there's a decided lack of urgency and passion in the production, one that makes us wonder if it might not have been better to have simply let "Veronica Mars" rest in peace.