You Again
Release Date:
September 24, 2010
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 69/190 |
Max Braden |
I was surprisingly pleasantly amused by the plot and the elder generation of women in the cast (plus, I'll see anything with Yustman). |
In You Again, Kristen Bell stars as a young woman whose brother is getting set to marry a girl who had made her life a living hell back in high school. In an effort to prevent her sworn enemy from becoming a sister-in-law, Bell (and her mother, played by the underused Jamie Lee Curtis) plan ways to prevent the nuptials.
Hollywood regularly churns out films of a similar ilk; in them, family members and friends try to prevent the union of two young lovers and hilarity invariably ensues. At its worst, the genre produces duds like Saving Silverman; at its best, it results in a Meet the Parents.
When Forgetting Sarah Marshall became a sleeper hit in 2008, there was little doubt that Kristen Bell would be spending some more face-time on the silver screen. Bell has an easy charm and wholesomeness to her that makes her likeable both to the younger set (see: Veronica Mars) as well as with the plus 25+ crowd (note: Sarah Marshall is not a wholesome character). If ever there was a studio that prides itself on finding talent that can walk along that thin line it is Disney. Just as they did with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in The Game Plan and Race to Witch Mountain, the Mouse House is officially working to turn Bell into something of an older starlet – a woman who can carry a film that appeals to the entire family. Think of her as the adult answer to the younger Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers.
For New Years, Disney resolved to make Bell into their next big thing, starting with the upcoming When in Rome and following that up with You Again. The film is directed by Andy Fickman, the same helmer that gave us modest critical and financial successes like Race to Witch Mountain and The Game Plan (do you see a pattern here?). You Again will not set the world on fire, but it will likely be an inoffensive film that earns a tidy profit, probably something between Witch Mountain’s $67 million and Game Plan’s $90 million. Along the way, Bell will almost certainly cement her reputation as a bankable lead for family friendly adult cinema. (Joshua Pasch/BOP)
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