Country: USA
Movie Review: Inspired by the popular TV series, “Veronica Mars” is a dissimulated comedy-thriller that holds very few convincing elements. Former teenage private eye, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), leaves New York City where she had a good opportunity to make a career in the law field, to return to Neptune, California, city of her past. The reason has to do with her former boyfriend, Logan (Jason Dohring), who asks for help after being accused of the murder of Bonnie De Ville, an emerging pop singer found electrocuted in her bathtub. Filmmaker Rob Thomas wasn’t able to fully dissociate this debut feature film from the TV approach he assumed for the series, between 2004 and 2007. The thin plot very soon was revelatory of its own problems, being treated in a too soft and careless manner for the seriousness the story should try to convey - after all we’re talking about a murder. The movie’s lightness opposes to Veronica’s toughness, in a combination that touched the pathetic in several occasions. Kristen Bell was the obvious choice to give life to Mars whose direct personality and lushly air couldn’t hide superficial tones that turned the story dubious. With an unarticulated pace and unnecessary voiceover as prop, “Veronica Mars” is nothing more than a tedious investigation that works more like an episodic joke set up with teenage spirit, rather than the essential detective thriller it aimed to be.
