Caught somewhere between its need to exist as an independent entity and its perhaps greater need to satisfy those who not only campaigned for but actually funded it, the Veronica Mars movie ends up perhaps no different from other cinematic extensions of a TV show. It is a pleasant experience, though likely much more pleasant to those who are better acquainted with this character and her story than I am, and that's just about everybody who's acquainted with her at all. This is a murder mystery for the modern age, and it's handled with enough humour and intelligence to sustain it to feature length - alas, it's difficult to craft a plot like this for the requirements of the average film thriller, since mystery plots tend to work better over the course of a full season of shows. As a result, Rob Thomas' flimsy story, which quite intentionally rips from dozens of similar murder mysteries before it, must be bolstered by something extra. And though intrigue in the central narrative strand is kept low, and the supporting cast seems happier to be there for themselves than we are for them, what Thomas has extra is Kristen Bell. Veronica is far from this medium's most compelling creation, though Bell makes her compelling in her own right, and thoroughly affable, even when her lifestyle and career decisions strike one as deeply questionable, at least for those among us less familiar with her past. From my objective and wholly uneducated viewpoint, I simply did not want her to get back with the creepy, violent ex-boyfriend, no matter how innocent he may be (one disappointing drawback for the murder case at the film's core is that Thomas never even suggests that he may be implicated in the death of his pop star girlfriend). Bell's acerbic quips do help to negate the nerdier aspects of the film, which inevitably caused me much irritation despite their necessity in pleasing the fanbase, though only to an extent. It is she, in fact, who enables Veronica Mars to exist, if only partially, as an independent entity at all.
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