Movie Review - 'You Again'

You Again Starring Kristen Bell, Odette Yustman, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Sigourney Weaver Directed by Andy Fickman Rated PG

Andy Fickman brings situational comedies to a new low with the poor execution of what could have been a half-way-decent movie. You Again stars Kristen Bell as Marni Olsen, a now successful young woman after a tough run as the dorky girl in high school. While traveling home for her brother’s wedding, Marni discovers that her sister-in-law to be is none other than her high school tormentor, head cheerleader Joanna, played by Odette Yustman. Similarly, Marni’s mother, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, discovers that Joanna’s Aunt Mona, Sigourney Weaver, is her ex-best friend from high school. OK, so, hilarity ensues, right? Not so much.

Formulaic comedies like You Again can be a lot of things, but they aren’t usually incomprehensible. It is nearly impossible to make heads or tales out of the character’s motivations, and even when everyone’s past and true feelings are exposed, not only is it uninteresting, it doesn’t make any sense.

Many of what should have been the funnier scenes in this film seemed to drag on into eternity. This begins with a prolonged airplane freak-out by Bell where it takes three airline workers to calm her down, and builds to nothing but a cheesy conversation with a Federal Air Marshal (Dwayne Johnson) that doesn’t do any good anyway. Yeah, it’s fun to see The Rock, but perhaps he felt the same way about the scene considering he isn’t even credited as being in the movie.

Though Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver, and Kyle Bornheimer give some truly funny performances, they simply can’t make up for everyone. Jamie Lee Curtis’ stereotypical doting mother takes many plunges into the pure annoying. There were also moments where it appeared she might have been improvising her lines with pretty awkward results. Odette Yustman’s performance was about as unbelievable as it gets. It’s almost pitiful, but when you look at what this young actress had to work with, one wonders whether she had a chance to begin with.  One thing that was evident, however, was her complete lack of commitment to a goofy dance that her character, and several other pregnant ex-cheerleaders perform at the rehearsal dinner. Come on, girl. I know it’s cheesy, but it looks a heck of a lot worse when you phone it in.

The biggest waste in this film is Betty White, and you just don’t waste a Betty White. Her character was completely under developed causing her jokes to miss, and her presence to be superfluous. This filmic mishap becomes even more depressing when Cloris Leachman makes a cameo in a face-off with White. These actresses are incredible, and you couldn’t care less about their characters.

If you can, however, set aside the fact that this movie makes little sense, is filled with awkward scenes and bad comedic timing, there are a few enjoyable moments. Most of these are scenes between Kristen Bell and on-screen younger brother, Billy Unger. Unger has impressive comedic deliveries throughout the film, and Bell plays off of him quite well. Bornheimer, who plays Joanna’s pathetic ex-fiancé, is the perfect blend of uncomfortable, crazy, and sympathetic, delivering a very funny performance. His character’s speech at the rehearsal dinner is pretty priceless.

In sum, don’t even think about trying to get to the theater to see You Again, and don’t worry about renting it either. It is a pretty aggravating 90 minutes. I would also advise not scheduling any trips around the time of this film’s DVD release because you might end up getting stuck watching this on an airplane.

Comments

[Josh]

Nice review. This is what i like from a review site. Not to say negative and hating everything but making valid clear points about why this movie doesn't work. The focus is on the film and I appreciate that. I hope to see more like this

[Vince]

I do like the cast at the very least (and I've had the biggest, biggest, most biggest, bigger than the biggest of the big crush on Odette Yustman for years now) but even I knew that this one was going to be a stinker. It looks inoffensive at best, maybe soul crushingly cliche at worst. Skipping it.

[quin browne]

We almost named our youngest Marnie. That's all I got on this one.

PS excellent review on the film, as always.

[Shaun Thompson]

The scene in which Dwayne Johnson made his short appearance was totally pointless. It seems like that whole scene was an attempt to put another under-utilized star (like Betty White) into the film.