Marni (Kristen Bell) has transformed herself from the ugly and unpopular high school girl to a beautiful and successful PR professional. Since she is pretty certain her awful high school days are way over, she’s more than happy to return home for the wedding of her older brother Will (James Wolk).
So she gets the shock of her life when she finds out that he’s marrying Joanna (Odette Yustman), the very girl who made Marni’s life hell all those years ago. What’s more shocking and disturbing for Marni is that Joanna claims to have become a much different and better person and Marni!
Poor Marni has no allies in the house as her mom Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) wants her to embrace the now and forgive Joanna’s past. Of course Gail’s optimistic “past is past” attitude disappears when she meets Joanna’s aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver). As it turns out, Ramona is the very woman who made Gail’s prom a nightmare. And it is Gail’s turn to be frustrated, as Ramon is the ultra successful, ultra-rich, very pretty multi-lingual owner of a hotel chain. And everyone adores this cool aunt, including Marni.
Can mother and daughter keep it together until the wedding? Or will disaster follow as Marni is pretty determined in proving to everyone that Joanna hasn’t changed at all?
**
You Again is a romantic comedy from 2010, with the emphasis on comedy. It is really fun for the most part, although some things just don’t add up, even for comedy’s sake. And the first half of the movie is a lot more fun than the second. Still, it is a great cast. We even have Victor Garber as Marni’s father and Betty White as her grandmother. Remember Victor Garber as Jack Bristow, a.k.a Sydney’s dad from Alias? If you don’t, please watch him in one Alias episode at least. Then you’ll know why I like watching him in a comedy so much.
I really found Gail’s lack of empathy – even after she finds herself as frustrated as her daughter- hilarious and very humane.
On a note: Could the wedding planner be more annoying and Tim (Kyle Bornheimer) more of a loser? And am I the only one who thought Joanna’s rehearsal dinner show totally stupid and not romantic?
It could have been a little more original if Marni didn’t get her high school crush (Sean Wing) in the end (it is not a spoiler, and u know it!), but hey, all in all, it is a very entertaining effort. It is not a should-see, but a could- see. And its biggest fault is that Betty White’s role wasn’t Betty White enough.
Fun notes:
– Dwayne Johnson has a very small but entertaining part as the Air Marshall
– 70s and 80s duo Hall& Oates make an appearance as themselves.
– Both Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis have co-starred with Mel Gibson in different movies. Sigourney Weaver co-starred with him The Year of Living Dangerously and Jamie in Forever Young.
Currently 5.4 on IMDB.
My verdict: 7 for the first half, 5.5 for the second.
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