'You Again' is nothing to cheer about
'Maturity is a phase. High school is forever."
Cartoonist Jules Feiffer said that. And the truism he proffered so profoundly in eight words gets stretched like taffy into a gooey, inedible, 105-minute mess that sticks to the roof of your psyche.
Overstuffed with stars making the best of a scattershot script - and clunkety-clunky direction by Andy Fickman ("The Game Plan," "Race to Witch Mountain") - this comedy of a grown-up high-school victim whose old nemesis is marrying into the family is a mean-spirited mess. And not mean-spirited in a good way, like the high-school black comedy "Heathers." Mean-spirited in an embarrassing way that the screenwriter should have worked out with his therapist and not with an audience.
Poor Kristen Bell plays high-school outcast Marni Olivia Olsen, tormented by the class of '02 for her initials (MOO), her glasses, her braces, her pimples. Eight years later, she's become what only in Hollywood is considered the epitome of professional success and envy-me glamour: a celebrity publicist.
When Marni learns her big brother Will (Jimmy Wolk) is marrying the bullying cheerleader Joanna (Odette Yustman), old insecurities roar back - along with a simpering desire for vengeance when the now seemingly saintly fiancée doesn't appear to recognize ol' Moo. Meanwhile, Marni's mom (Jamie Lee Curtis) has her own hands full with former frenemy Ramona (Sigourney Weaver). Those two older actresses try so hard and have a few sparks, but sadly, even Betty White as Marni's grandma is wasted here except for the movie's priceless final scene. Ironically, the funniest scene here is Duane Johnson's uncredited cameo.
Unable to decide if it's cartoony or naturalistic, and swerving between the two like a drunken wedding guest, this is ultimately a bridal train wreck.
Back story: Bell believes in 'You' director
'You Again" offered star Kristen Bell an opportunity to work again with director Andy Fickman, who convinced her to move to Hollywood after he directed her in the offbeat musical satire "Reefer Madness." (He later directed her in the Emmy-winning "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical," which aired on Showtime in 2005.)
"I usually won't question anything if Andy is involved because I know how much fun I'll have on the set," she says. "I don't care if he's directing PSAs for a theme park in the Midwest, I would be involved in it."
Bell describes Fickman as a "ball of positive energy" whose directing style is "actor-friendly" and collaborative.
"Even if he thinks it's not going to work, he'll still let you try something," she says.
One suggestion he nixed was Bell's idea to give her character, Marni, even more pimples as a high schooler than she ended up having in the film.
"I had some killer whiteheads in high school, so I wanted Marni to look even worse than she does, but he said 'no,' " she says.
- Entertainment News Wire
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