Basically TV writ large, “Veronica Mars’’ is far less interesting (except, probably, to its fans) to me as movie than as a potential model for financing the kind of smaller films that major Hollywood studios aren’t much interested in making anymore.
Star Kristen Bell and creator-director Rob Thomas famously raised a record $5.7 million from 91,585 backers for this Kickstarter-funded follow-up to their ratings-challenged TV series about a wisecracking teenage private investigator, which ran from 2004 to 2007 on UPN and the CW and has developed a devoted cult following.
“Veronica Mars” is also making history as the first major studio film that’s simultaneously being released on the big screen — Warner Bros. is opening it in 270 theaters nationally — and via video-on-demand.
This movie takes great pains to thank the fans who made this possible by including many characters from the series — a good deal for them, not necessarily so great for the rest of us.
Those unfamiliar with the source material (there’s a summary at the beginning of the film) are left with a mystery that looks a lot like a two-part TV episode — not really bad, but less engaging or surprising than your typical episode of “Murder She Wrote.”
As the film opens, it’s nine years after the series’ final season had Veronica in her freshman year at college, and the brainy former high school rebel has put those days far behind her — or at least she thinks so.
In New York, she’s waiting for the final word about a job as a corporate lawyer at a Manhattan firm and is engaged to one of her more stable classmates (Chris Lowell).
But all it takes is a call for help to send her flying back home to Neptune, Calif., where her hotheaded ex-boyfriend, Logan (Jason Dohring), is a suspect in the death of another classmate — self-destructive pop-star Carrie (Andrea Estella) — who is found electrocuted in her bathtub, with Logan passed out nearby.
Veronica’s ex wants her to help him find a lawyer, but soon enough she’s back sleuthing with the help of pals Mac (Tina Majorino) and Wallace (Percy Daggs III).
Is the actual culprit a fan (a very funny Gaby Hoffman) of the dead woman with a thing for Logan? Or does it have something to do with a long-ago tragedy involving rich bitch Gia (Krysten Ritter) and moronic surfer Dick (Ryan Hansen)?
And is the corrupt new sheriff (Jerry O’Connell) trying to cover something up?
Veronica’s visit coincides with her 10-year high school reunion, which facilitates cameo appearances and ups the number of potential red herrings, but doesn’t really do much for suspense.
Bell gives her all to a paper-thin script, but can’t generate much chemistry with either of her love interests.
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.
The worst part is cameos by James Franco and TMZ’s Harvey Levin, featured in a subplot about surreptitious celebrity surveillance that’s a lot less fresh and shocking than the filmmakers seem to think it is.
Fans can certainly feel free to add a star to my rating of “Veronica Mars.’’ Hopefully, the next crowd-sourced major studio film will be a little more ambitious.