Sometimes bad movies happen to good people. Unfortunately for the terrific cast of "You Again," "sometimes" is right now.
Due to the shoddy script, the movie's stellar ensemble of Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis and the legendary Betty White almost all fail to deliver. Their lines are contrived and their scenes awkward. What should have been a brilliant celebration of talent was instead churned into a film of straight−to−DVD caliber.
The premise is neither new nor original. Bell portrays Marni, a once−unpopular and acne−ridden high school student who has transformed into a beautiful and successful PR professional. Newly promoted, she returns home to find that her brother (Jimmy Wolk) is engaged to be married to the girl who made her teenage years a living hell.
This erstwhile alpha female, Joanna (Odette Yustman), has done a one−eighty and reacted to her parents' recent deaths by dedicating herself to helping the less fortunate. The dynamic between Marni and Joanna is paralleled by that between Marni's mother, Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Joanna's Aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver). These parallel storylines let loose a storm of equally immature attitudes and petty competitiveness.
Although Curtis and Weaver both got their breakout movie roles within six months of one another — "Halloween" (1978) and "Alien" (1979), respectively — the two actresses have not worked together until now. This makes their unsuccessful collaboration even more unfortunate. This disappointment is compounded by the relationship between Bell and director Andy Fickman, who worked together on the highly acclaimed and Emmy award−winning "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical" (2005). Fickman somehow manages to dull the normally vivacious Bell, making her unpleasant to watch.
Despite categorizing itself as a romantic comedy, there is little romance or comedy. Producer John J. Strauss, who penned "There's Something About Mary" (1998), somehow managed to remove all the romantic and comedic structures that made this previous film such a success. Marni's love interest — seemingly an ode to Drew Barrymore's high school love interest in "Never Been Kissed" (1999) — appears in a grand total of three scenes, each one more lacking in chemistry than the last.
Thankfully for the viewer, there is at least one scene which makes the rest of the movie bearable. Featuring Kristen Chenoweth as the over−the−top wedding planner Georgia and Betty White as Grandma Bunny, a ridiculous salsa lesson unfolds, rescuing the movie from utter monotony. Chenoweth's charm translates effortlessly to the silver screen, her exuberant characterizations ever−entertaining. In this scene, the other characters finally break out of their confining stereotyped roles, allowing them the freedom to have fun. There's something to be said for iconic Hollywood actresses dancing in a wildly inappropriate fashion on the big screen.
The other scenes in the movie fail to deliver the same effortless humor, coming off instead as forced and almost uncomfortable. The fight scenes are exaggerated and antics, such as the throwing of plates, come off as distasteful instead of funny. It is unrealistic to believe that any of those characters, all of whom appear to be educated and mature, would lower themselves to such juvenile reactions.
This movie needs to be watched with remote in hand, so that the viewer can fast forward to White's scenes. Her lines are some of the few clever parts of the script and she delivers them with her brand of timeless humor. Fickman delivers one−liners with a punch, her cute face wrinkled into a cheeky smile.
While everyone else struggles to appear effortlessly funny, White is entirely natural. With complete ease, she reminds Weaver and Curtis — and newcomers Bell and Yustman — what it truly means to be a Hollywood legend.
