You Again (2010)
By Roxanne Downer
Wait, You Again? Didn’t I just see you on cable as a Never Been Kissed, Bride Wars, and When in Rome triple-header? I thought I told you we were through. Why, then, did I end up watching Kristen Bell reprise her role as a clumsy, shrill career girl, forced to play bridesmaid at a wedding she’d rather not attend?
It turns out Bell, who plays Marni Olivia Olsen (MOO), was once a high school loser with pimples, braces, and bangs. Face fringe? Quelle horreur! Even though she’s moved away from home and gotten good highlights, Marni finds that she can’t escape her past. Her older brother, Will (James Wolk), is about to marry her high school nemesis, queen of the mean girls (a.k.a. captain of the cheerleading squad) J.J. The bitch now goes by Joanna (Odette Yustman) and swears that she’s devoted her life to helping those less fortunate than she is. And she swears that she has no recollection of Marni, the unfortunate girl who she once devoted herself to making miserable.
Marni’s mom, Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) tries to convince her daughter to let bygones be bygones. But Gail changes her tune when she discovers that Joanna’s aunt is her own frenemy from the ’70s, Ramona (Sigourney Weaver), who has since become a high-power, wealthy hotelier.
What happens next in this insipid, witless comedy directed by Andy Flickman is as predictable as it is unlikely. All four girls…ahem…women behave really, really badly. Bell, who must start choosing her scripts more carefully, falls down a lot. Yustman narrows her eyes to slits while applying lip-gloss like a bargain basement Megan Fox, who herself is a cut-rate Angelina Jolie. How many times can you take half off of half off before there’s nothing left? You Again. That’s how many.
Meanwhile, Curtis goes daffy and starts high kicking for no good reason. And Weaver steals a spunky Staten Island secretary’s ideas while seducing Harrison Ford. Okay, that last bit didn’t happen, but Weaver’s portrayal of Aunt Ramona does bear a striking resemblance to Katharine Parker from Working Girl, bourgeois name-dropping and bad French-isms included.
Still, it’s hard to lay all the blame on these actresses, particularly the talented older set. First-time screenwriter Moe Jelline’s script gives them nothing to work with and is about as unfunny as they come. I would offer up a choice piece of dialogue to demonstrate my point, but I can’t remember any. That’s how boring and unimaginative it all is.
Flickman, not content with wasting the comedic talents of Curtis and Weaver, ultimately resorts to stunt casting to perk up this lackluster affair. Victor Garber, as the patient husband and father, spends his on-screen time looking bewildered about how four Tony nominations landed him here. Betty White, who has recently cornered the market on spirited grannies, appears momentarily as spunky Grandma Bunny. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson puts in a charming but brief performance as an air marshal. Kristin Chenoweth does a pas de chats and hits a high note before exiting stage left. Even Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Reginald VelJohnson (Carl Winslow), Cloris Leachman, and both Hall and Oates make an appearance.
But none of that matters since movie-making science has proven time and again that you can’t polish a turd. And, ultimately, You Again is a steaming pile of them.
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This You Again movie review is copyright 2009 Small World Marketing and Jim Steele. This You Again review should not be reprinted without the permission of the copyright holders.
This movie review of You Again expresses the opinion of the author only. Other You Again movie reviews are available online, and some of those might or might not express different opinions on the movie. Like those other You Again movie reivews, this You Again review is intended for the entertainment and education of the reader. This You Again movie review is provided as is with no warranty or guarantee implied.
