Review Roundup: VERONICA MARS Hits the Big Screen

By: Mar. 14, 2014
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Rob Thomas' feature film VERONICA MARS broke records with its Kickstarter campaign last year and will now hit theaters and VOD/digital today. This big-screen adaptation of the much beloved, but low-rated, cult TV show features returning stars Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Chris Lowell, Ryan Hansen, Krysten Ritter, Percy Daggs III, Tina Majorino, Francis Capra Ken Marino and Enrico Colantoni.

In the film, Veronica Mars has put Neptune and her amateur sleuthing days behind her on the eve of graduating law school. While interviewing at high-end law firms, Veronica gets a call from her ex-boyfriend Logan who has been accused of murder. Veronica heads back to Neptune just to help Logan find an attorney, but when things don't seem right with how Logan's case is perceived and handled, Veronica finds herself being pulled back into a life she thought she had left behind.

VERONICA MARS reboots in theaters and on-demand today.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Owen Gleiberman | Entertainment Weekly

"Yet as directed by series creator Rob Thomas, the movie, like the show, is entertainingly fast-talking in a tidy, faux-serious way. Kristen Bell, if anything, has only gained in appeal: She's alluringly fixated, with eyes like heat-seeking missiles and a dry-martini delivery of lines like 'Kudos for rockin' the 'stache till it came back in style!'" Read the full Review here.

Rafer Guzman | Newsday

"VERONICA MARS isn't really a movie but another episode -- and not even a grand finale -- with all the familiar characters and in-jokes that viewers expect. To those coming in midseason, as it were, it has less to offer." Read the full Review here.

Michael Phillips | Chicago Tribune

"The film, which is adequate, cares not about the newbies. Although VERONICA MARS does its duty in identifying the major characters on the fly, as they make their entrances and get out of the way, this one's strictly for the fan base." Read the full Review here.

Elizabeth Weitzman | New York Daily News

""Veronica Mars" does actually feel like an expanded, if especially well made, television episode. So if you've never seen the series, feel free to knock a star off this review... But it's OK that this project was designed with the faithful in mind - and celebrates fandom itself. There should always be room for smartly conceived experiments." Read the full Review here.

Lou Lumenick | New York Post

"The best parts of this awkwardly paced film are Bell's scenes with Enrico Colantoni, who returns as her private investigator dad, concerned she's throwing away a bright future by getting sucked back into her old life." Read the full Review here.

Sheri Linden | Hollywood Reporter

"As with the TV show, the connect-the-dots mystery solving is less interesting than the character dynamics; crimes unravel with a directness that feels aimed at younger audiences. The dark doings are leavened, and sometimes undercut, by comedy, and by angst that's not far removed from adolescence." Read the full Review here.

Justin Chang | Variety

"Kristen Bell's whip-smart sleuth doesn't get a case worthy of her talents, but fans will nonetheless be gratified by writer-director Rob Thomas' long-overdue return to Neptune." Read the full Review here.

Chuck Barney | San Jose Mercury News

"Their investment has been rewarded with a brisk and sweetly satisfying, if predictable, film that gets the band back together again and pretty much hits all the beats you expect it to hit." Read the full Review here.

Did you see VERONICA MARS this weekend? Add your Review to the roundup in the comments below.



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