I have always had a fascination with famous people. Not an obsession or wanting to learn everything I can about them, I just want to be near them. It is not because I think their good fortune will magically flake off and land on me, turning my life into a charmed existence. Basically I get a kick when I see or hear in the news something about the celebrity and I can say I saw them or was at the same place they visited. Growing up the closest I came to being near someone famous was a classmate in high school, whose family owned a yogurt company. Whenever I was at the grocery store and passed by his family’s products I would get a smile on my face, knowing I went to high school with their son. Yes, so I am a bit goofy; but I have to tell you, if I had gone to the same school with Veronica Mars it would have been so cool. Unfortunately watching this crime dramedy was my first time seeing Veronica Mars, played by Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Big Miracle). After viewing this film I wished I had seen the television show. Besides the enjoyment, I feel I would have understood more in this picture. The story took place after the TV show, where Veronica had attended law school and was on the verge of landing a job at a prestigious New York law firm. Before finding out if she was hired, Veronica traveled back home to visit her dad Keith, played by Enrico Colantoni (Galaxy Quest, Just Shoot Me!-TV).  While there she would help her former boyfriend Logan Echolls, played by Jason Dohring (Deep Impact, Searching for Sonny), who was the prime suspect in the murder of his girlfriend. Even with her new calling, Veronica would soon find out old habits were hard to break. What sold me on this film was the snappy dialog and Kristen Bell. As I mentioned there were times I felt I was out of the loop, like there were inside jokes I was missing. The directing was consistently tight. I do not know if it is because I knew this came out of a television show, but I felt I was watching a TV series. The way the scenes changed seemed like they were timed to insert a commercial break. The writers did their best to include the cast’s back story without getting bogged down in voice over explanations. If I have one criticism of this movie it would be the lack of intensity to the story. It needed more drama and intensity for the characters; with a bigger screen one needs a bigger story. Now that I have experienced the charm of Veronica Mars I hope there will be another movie.

3 stars for Veronica Mars fans       2 2/3 stars for everyone else