Being a nice person can have its drawbacks. I was planning to see a movie with my friend Magali, but was forced due to events beyond me control to cancel at the last minute. To make it up to her, I told her that the next time we saw a movie, we could see "what ever movie you want", while really, really hoping that movie would not be a chick flick like, say, Nancy Drew.
While we were walking into the theatre I checked up the running time of the movie and was disheartened to learn that it would be 113 pain inducing minuets. But I was surprised that Nancy Drew was not painful and almost (but not quite) actually good. It certainly wasn't an ordeal like the time I saw the Brittany Spears movie, Crossroads, and I never once wished for the blessed release of death.
That's kind of faint praise for a movie, I know, but this wasn't exactly an Oscar contender to begin with. I have never read any of the 175 Nancy Drew novels written between 1930 and 2003, but I did as a boy read the adventures of The Hardy Boys, which share the same literary source, Edward Stratemeyer. Although I liked them at the time, I now remember them as being painfully antiquated in a 1950's suburbia kind of way, with entire chapters devoted to exciting material like whether Frank and Joe will be able to borrow Dad's car if they mow the lawn.
Anyway, the movie version of Nancy Drew is smart enough to have fun with the premise- although not quite enough. Nancy Drew (Emma Roberts, Eric's daughter and Julia' niece) is indeed a teenager who solves mysteries, but she, like the movie's premise, is trapped in the 50's. She dresses like Donna Reed, drives a 50's car, and is generally far too polite for her contemporary surroundings (the movie's best line is "Excuse me, I have to diffuse this bomb.") Does this result in fish out of water hilarity? No, but it does give some pleasant grins.
The plot revolves around Nancy heading out to Los Angeles with her dad (Tate Donovan) on a three month business trip. They rent an old house formally owned by a famous movie star (Laura Harring) who died in 1981 under mysterious circumstances. Do you think that Nancy will break her promise to her Dad to quit sleuthing? While trying to solve the mystery of the house, she is aided by her boyfriend Ned (Max Theirot), who also seems trapped inside Leave It To Beaver and an annoying kid named Corky (Josh Flitter).
To say that the mystery is completely unmysterious is to state the obvious. You'll know who the bad guy is the minute he appears on the screen. And when you think back on the film there are so many movie clichés and unlikely events that it's mind boggling. We even get an old Asian guy who owns a pawnshop.
But of course, the audience this movie was made won't care about those things, and does not include me. I've been rather hard on the movie, so I should say that I did appreciate the fact that it's not about who gets to go the prom with hunky guy or become the head of the cheerleading squad. I liked how the movie celebrates the fact that Nancy is different. Emma Roberts is also quite charming in a part that would have been annoying cloying if played by many young actresses. I can't recommend this film, but it's better than I thought it would be. If I was fifteen year old girl, I might really like it, but luckily, the universe isn't that screwed up.
Nancy Drew (2007)