*The first draft of this review was written in 2010.
You Again: The Characters Are Not the Only Ones Who Are Bitter
As a 30 year-old when "You Again" was released, I could not help but find it tough to stomach movies about weddings. Let it be known that it is not a chick flick thing because "The Hangover" is a feature that I am a detractor of.
It may have just been an age thing for me since the mad cap comedies like "Wedding Crashers" and "American Wedding", two features whose release dates sandwiched the loss of my virginity, were enjoyable. Early/mid twenties, society was not expecting anything of me in terms of settling down.
If we ignore Morton, Illinois's expectations of its children, this Kristin Bell feature is a bit of screwball nonsense. The difference from the two predecessors in the focus on a women's perspectives. Features from the aughts were based around mature themes. "Bridesmaids" is still a year away, so we were not overly accepting of girls behaving badly yet. Thus, "You Again" did not offer anything to draw me in. Its PG-rating did not help.
This was a flick Mom wanted company to view, and I do not
turn down free popcorn. I am not saying that is wise because most things still have a price to pay.
Marni returns home for her brother's wedding, unaware that his fiance made her life a living hell in high school. She wants to come to terms with this, but her adversary, Joanna, insists that she does not remember her. Looking out for her sibling, Marni believes she must prove that his wife-to-be is hiding some, perhaps a lot of things from her past.
To make matters worse, her mother is having to come to terms with the fact that her high school rival is Joanna's aunt. Competition and chaos threaten to consume this glorious ceremony. We should just hope that the amount of causalities will not be too high.
"You Again" is a conglomeration of all things chick. Weddings, high school drama, Betty White as the uber cougar, all of this is enough to make any "straight" guy squirm. This movie tries to do too much, and I think the target audience will even call bullshit on the narrative.
The premise of the wedding is secondary to high school politics. This is not necessarily a bad idea, but adolescent politics have been done so well before this. If you do not meet that bar, the film will be a dud. "You Again" does not have the ups to reach that.
To make up for this, they compensate with screwball elements from the trailers that kept me away from "Bride Wars". That feature at least had actresses that I could have a vested interest in (I am still not sold on Anne Hathaway, but she has some seeming worthwhile projects). I am not saying that I do not care about all of these performers, but I think Jamie Lee Curtis is more than a punchline (and yogurt).
In 2010, girls and slapstick just did not work. It is not believable in this feature and any comedian will tell you that. Women tend not to put themselves in harm's way for a laugh. Their characters in general prefer devious methods to inflict harm for humor, and that does not work when the rating is PG.
"You Again" is a film that is not what it should be. It is a wedding flick, so it should be sweet. Instead, they make their leads a bunch of idiots. The idea of the Special Olympics is sweet, but that does not demand laughs. At least the handicap benefit from that event. No one benefits from "You Again".
No comments:
Post a Comment