Saturday, March 15, 2014

The Veronica Mars Movie!





I actually feel ill from watching the Veronica Mars movie. I was way too excited and all of that excitement totally paid off. It’s a strange and wonderful feeling.

Veronica was such a large part of my teenage years that seeing her Logan, Wallace, Mac, Piz, Weevil and the team all back together brought enormous amounts of joy all by themselves. The fact that the plot was full of all of the best parts of the Veronica Mars that I loved is a credit to Rob Thomas and his writing, casting, producing and support team.

And that means the Kickstarter Backers too. Because almost 8 years after Veronica Mars was cancelled, the fans of the show funded a long awaited film to see their beloved characters back together again. To find out what happened to them all. Who did they become? Who was still together? What was Veronica going to do with her life?

I just have an overwhelming urge to thank the whole Internet right now for what I just saw. It was amazing.

I’m going to ramble some more under the cut and I will warn before spoilers so if you want to check to movie out or you want to jump up and down via text on the web then please follow me under the cut.


We pick up with Veronica just in time for her 10 year high school reunion. Luckily she is not in Neptune anymore. She is currently getting ready to sit the bar exam and become a New York Lawyer.

The cast are at their best with the lingo that rivalled Buffy the Vampire Slayer back at its finest. It’s hard to believe any of these actors stopped playing these characters.

As her life reaches a pinnacle Veronica is drawn back to Neptune by a phone call from Logan Echolls, her ex-boyfriend. Logan has been accused of murder and needs Veronica’s help and Veronica can’t say no.

What follows is an amazing array of old character catching up for beers and dancing, old flames being reignited, new relationships growing and changing and Veronica squaring with the person she is truly supposed to be.

The plot is riveting but also full of the softer emotional beats that made Veronica Mars so engaging originally. And Veronica is every bit as sassy and kick arse as she was 10 years ago. I love her.

Before delving into the spoiler section let me say that the movie is set up so that non-fans can still follow it and enjoy it and I hope that it gets some more people into the joy that is Veronica Mars. It also has a rocking soundtrack – something much appreciated in the series – so do yourself a favour and watch it!



If you want some spoilery discussion then here I go!



There has been a lot said about the Logan/Veronica/Piz love triangle. Love triangles are a THING now aren’t they? This was tormenting us years go! I’ve always had a soft spot for Piz and I totally understand why Kristen Bell has always preferred him. Piz is the nice, drama free guy who you spend the rest of your life with. He treats Veronica well and he cares about her deeply. I feel bad for Piz because he was just up against far too magnetic of a force in the Logan and Veronica epic love story. Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring have the kind of magnetic chemistry that I still don’t quite understand. They’re characters seem to fit together seamlessly. Sure, it makes for interesting television, but it also makes for a statement about being true to ones own character and nature. I loved that this movie was about Veronica realising that she was trying to lie about who she really was, and unfortunately, there was collateral; Piz.

Ultimately, it was always going to be Veronica and Logan. That was the organic way the story developed and that was where the heart of Veronica’s character always lay. It was refreshing to see a film about a woman squaring with her flaws and her vices, owning them and making the best of them. Being unapologetic about who she is. Kudos to the writing crew for going with this arc.



Piz, Wallace and Mac in particular were like old friends returning to see you after a very long time. I adored the dancing scene with all of them going for it. I also enjoyed the punch up. What is a Veronica Mars Reunion without that sex tape being played and Logan losing his mind? Seeing all of Veronica’s boys in the scrap was awesome. Seeing Veronica resolve the situation was amazing.

I wish there had of been a little more of the Veronica and Mac friendship moments and the Wallace and Veronica friendship moments. Those were so crucial to the show that seeing the characters and not seeing them interact as much was a little painful. It’s a movie though so there is only so much you can do. What was included was all wonderful.


The callbacks to the earlier episodes weren’t always overdone, although if you knew what you were looking for, you couldn’t quite tell if you were squealing with joy or grimacing a little. Something that totally worked? Veronica leaving her house to see Logan with a sports car parked out front flirting with her. Damn. Maybe slightly less good? Calling back on the speech in season 2 when Logan called his and Veronica’s relationship ‘epic’. That was definitely a little too fan-service for my likes. Possibly because it was so significant and perfect the first time and struck such a chord with people who loved the show. The line was mostly pulled off though.

I thought the parallels to the final season helped stich together the stories and build over the void. Logan going postal over the sex tape being shown again, Piz getting in a fight, party scenes, fast cars. It all worked.

By the way, the guest appearances are genius. Genius. Especially James Franco.

I won’t give away the who-dun-it.

As I said before; FANTASTIC.

Now I just desperately need more. Now.

Photo from Entertainment Weekly.

No comments:

Post a Comment