"Veronica Mars" (2014)

Some of the most treasured art in the world is displayed across the world on refrigerators in kitchens, but it is only really loved by small audiences. “Veronica Mars” may be just such a work of art. It is far from perfect, far from deep in its thought, and far from anything like a masterwork of cinema. That being said, it may be loved by fans of the show in the way that a mother loves her child’s doodles. Not so much by this fan, if I can really be considered a fan of the show.


There is an appeal to noir, but some of that appeal is lost when you are asked to invest emotion in the characters. Veronica Mars makes noir hard to like. She is a girl you want to like; for whom you want to root. But her noir tendency to be drawn to shady characters and shady mysteries frustrates. In this story we see that, 10 years down the road, Mars is ready to break out of her hard-luck past and achieve the “American Dream.” In most films where the main character sabotages that opportunity as much as our heroine does here, we would be hating her and the story. In “Veronica Mars” it simply makes perfect sense, and that is the difficulty we face with this story.

For those who followed the show there are some nice inside jokes, but the story-line is a little to rote and uncreative to really please.