Veronica Mars (2014) Review

Or, a long time ago, we used to be friends but I haven't thought of you lately at all.

You can watch the trailer here.

Veronica Mars (2014) was exactly to be expected. It was made for the fans. Luckily for me I was such a fan. 

Here's your IMDB synopsis;

Years after walking away from her past as a teenage private eye, Veronica Mars gets pulled back to her hometown - just in time for her high school reunion - in order to help her old flame Logan Echolls, who's embroiled in a murder mystery.

All the 'in jokes' were there. You even had the random busker playing the theme song courtesy of Spider-Man (2002). (I still can't sing the Spider Man theme song without going 'Look out, woooooooo! Here comes the Spider Man!")

Everyone was there that you expected, and hoped, to be at the reunion. They even attended a high school reunion! How delightfully meta of you Veronica Mars!

I speak with sarcasm but I did love it for all those little nods to the fans who made it happen during the phenomenal Veronica Mars Movie kick starter campaign. The main priority of the film was to resolve the ultimate frustration of the fans when the show was cancelled. Get Veronica back with Logan. 

Piz was a nice guy and all, but everyone who watched the series as a teenager knew you just can't separate Veronica and Logan. God, I feel dirty for still being invested in this!

The film delivered on its promise. Unfortunately, it did so in such a way that to anyone who didn't know the show it will just feel solely like an obvious rom-com interlaced with dabbles of crime drama. 

The important thing was it ended by promising there would be more to come. We've had our fun, we've done all that we promised fans, now we will take it seriously. However, by then I think Veronica Mars would have alienated the potential new audience and have already pandered too much to the old. 

I think the debate about letting your fans help create your film is an interesting one and in general I'm not hugely against it. In a film like Veronica Mars, a standard Hollywood film, they would have had to take interference from some parties. And I prefer it to be a few happy nods to the fans, than a fat cat producer with too much of Daddy's money playing 'you know I think it would be cool if...' If you're going to take money from someone and then have to bend to their whims a little, much better it be from someone who genuinely loved it in the first place. 

Serenity (2005) for example is an opposing example. I loved Firefly (2002-2003). I loved Firefly far too much. And though I loved the film also, I couldn't help but feel it cowed too much to the big action
blockbuster in order to bring the money in as much money from the general populace as possible.

Warning: Massive Serenity/Firefly spoiler to follow.

Considering Joss Whedon is king of the cult phenomena, going mainstream was always going to feel a little off. It lost some of its original quirk. It lost a little of its soul. And this was a film that wasn't even attempting to rejuvenate a franchise. It concluded by killing off the majority of the cast for Christ sake! *Sobs* Wash!

Would I have felt ripped off if Serenity functioned solely on fan flavouring? Yes, even more so. But it felt like the film wasn't for me. It was for the gross other. It was as if the original fans who kept it going and begged for its return weren't good enough. 

Veronica Mars is what it is. If you loved the show, definitely see it. Get your closure. If you didn't watch the show and there's nothing you desperately want to see, go ahead. The dialogue is fantastic as ever, and Kristen Bell's spunky, sarcastic detective is as caustic and loveable as ever. Don't expect anything phenomenal though and be warned you will leave feeling as though you spent a while conversation being left out of the in jokes. 

Also, Veronica Mars, bonus points for slotting in at least two Sharknado (TV Movie 2013) references. That even amused Manface!