Veronica Mars
Directed by Rob Thomas
Written by Rob Thomas
Starring Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Krysten Ritter, Ryan Hanson
Released March 14th, 2014
Published March 14th, 2014
"Along time ago, we used to be friends" The Dandy Warhols
That song lyric from the theme to the TV series "Veronica Mars" becomes even more resonant as years after the series has faded into syndication it returns like a friend that you hadn't thought about lately. Thanks to an extraordinarily successful Kickstarter campaign, Kristen Bell is once again the acerbic, Pitbull Esque private eye many of us fell in love with on a little seen but nevertheless terrific CW TV series, "Veronica Mars."
Picking up just less than 10 years after the TV series, "Veronica Mars" the movie finds our heroine seemingly living the dream in New York City. Veronica has escaped the corrupt cesspool of her hometown of Neptune, California for the life of a law school graduate with her choice of major law firms and a loving boyfriend, Piz (Chris Lowell), who she's apparently been with since we last saw them together on TV.
Of course, there would not be a "Veronica Mars" movie if the siren call of Neptune, California did not somehow call Veronica home. First, its Veronica's friends Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and Mac (Tina Majorino) urging Veronica to return for their 10 year high school reunion. Then, the real plot unfolds when Veronica's former flame Logan Echols finds himself on the wrong side of a murder investigation, one the corrupt cops of Neptune are all too eager to close.
Logan's pop star girlfriend has died under suspicious circumstances with Logan found on the scene in the wake of her death. Naturally, there are a multitude of other suspects, including an obsessed fan (Gaby Hoffman), a dirtbag former PI (Ken Marino), and several of Veronica's former classmates, including favorites from the TV series like Gia (Krysten Ritter) and even Logan's best friend Dick (Ryan Hansen).
The mystery is as cleverly plotted and entertaining as any storyline on the TV series. More importantly however, the story perfectly bridges the gap from fans to non-fans without betraying those who loved the series (Marshmellows), or going so inside that it neglects newbies just looking for an entertaining whodunit. It's a terrific trick with fans and non-fans alike sucked into this story of corruption, murder, mystery and wit.
Writer-Director-Creator Rob Thomas is a wildly neglected talent in Hollywood who deserves better than to simply pine for what he lost when his series was cancelled. That's certainly not to say that I regret that "Veronica Mars" the movie has so consumed Thomas' imagination that he neglected other artistic avenues, though that is a little unfortunate. No, the resulting "Veronica Mars" movie is far too entertaining to lament for any reason. And with this movie out of the way maybe now Thomas can move on and create something else as equally clever and fun as "Veronica Mars."
