Prediction: Veronica Mars (movie)

Shiri’s Prediction: Let me preface: you’re going to get two very different predictions here: Mine, as someone who has never seen an episode of Veronica Mars, and Luke’s, as someone who is pretty dedicated to the first two seasons and is, therefore, far more invested in this movie being good than I am.  I like Kristen Bell, but I don’t think she’s the shiznits the way some people do.  The trailer features so many typical “reunion” movie tropes (the ex, the actual reunion, the punching out the prom queen, the “just as I got out, they’ve pulled me back in,” “the I don’t do that any more but I’ll do it for you mysterious, dark dude…”)  I get the impression the whole thing is going to be a long, long string of in-jokes.

Which is fine for those who watched the show but does absolutely nothing to engage those of us who didn’t.  And investing those people, beckoning them, showing a little leg?  Not a bad idea because it gives the whole empire a new rank of centurions with money begging to be spent and time to invest in catching up.  I definitely won’t be doing that and I doubt I’ll be seeing the movie either.  Sorry, Luke…

Luke’s Prediction: So, I came to the whole Veronica Mars thing pretty late, well after it was canceled, but I kept hearing it mentioned in lists of shows that I have really enjoyed. When I sat down to watch it, I was pretty surprised, instead of a cheesy teen drama, it was a pretty well done detective series that just happened to be hiding behind a cheesy teen drama. It had great snappy dialog, intriguing mysteries and was way darker than it ever deserved to get away with. It had some problems, the second series never really compared to the first and the less said about the third the better, but even at its worst it was head and shoulders above most anything else on broadcast TV.

The show was canceled way before its time. The third season was rough, but recoverable. Though, in the end, the thing that kept people coming back to the show were the characters. And that is why it is the product of one of the most successful Kickstarters ever, people who enjoyed the show shelled out cash to see more of the characters. And I am not going to address any of the bitching or whining or handwringing that people have had about that Kickstarter, other than to say, I got exactly what I wanted out of it: a Veronica Mars movie. A movie made by the creators of the original series, with all the actors back in their roles. And, that rocks.

Maybe having watched the show, I saw fewer in-jokes and more of an attempt to lay everyone out on the table in a preview, so those who are new to all of the characters get all the background they need to enjoy the movie, (and maybe some of the in-jokes.)

So, here is my recommendation, go watch the first season of the series. That, more than likely, will still be the high point of the Veronica Mars cannon.

For me, I am going enjoy this movie on the day it comes it, because I will have a download of the digital version, which rocks. I will most likely go see it in the theater as well.