You Again

You Again is a little different type of chick flick, while there are those typical romantic comedy moments, the main story story deals with the sister of the groom and how her arch nemesis from high school ends up being her brother's fiance. While this alone one would think would make for some funny moments they added a twist by having the groom's mother and the bride's aunt be old enemies from high school as well. While the overall concept had a lot of potential to be a funny movie with a great story, but it really missed out on the execution to reach its potential . The trailers unfortunately showed some of the funniest parts which left the audience feeling a little let down as you always want to see funnier moments in the actual movie and not the funniest ones in the trailer.

Kristen Bell in the role of Marni, does a strong job with what she is given. With the torment she underwent through high school from her brother's fiance the audience definitely feels for her from the get go. Bell is definitely one who is becoming better in every role she is in and she has some very good comedic timing. While I do think she does a good job this is probably my least favorite role I have seen her in. Her character ends up stooping to the level of a high school tormentor which makes it hard to want to root for her. Odette Annable in the role of Joanna, Bell's high school tormentor was cast very well. In the flashbacks to high school she plays the mean girl role so well that we view her as the antagonist and we do not trust her intentions and believe she is just being nice as part of trying to make Bell look crazy. The rest of the supporting cast fit in nicely with the two female leads. Betty White although her role is very small she is still amazingly funny and it is hilarious when she hits on the much younger men. The competition that goes on between Sarandon and Curtis plays for laughs, some of these moments work while some of the other moments fall flat on their face.

The story of You Again is one that is unique. It is a rarity to see the two main characters to be females. While there have been a few movies with two female leads it has been awhile since I have seen a movie with two female leads. I did enjoy the perspective that You Again does show how we can sometimes gets so focused on something that we end up being blind to everything else. Bell's character experiences this phenomena as she is so enveloped in the rivalry with her high school nemesis that she is blinded to see the love interest that she has, as well as the happiness her brother has from being in love. The interesting part of this as well is that because of the focus on her rival, the protagonist feel we had for Bell early on in the movie disappears, and the feelings of pity move to the groom as he sees what his fiance was like at one point in her life and how it has driven his sister to trying to in reality ruin his happiness instead of being happy for him. Yet, the story is able to work in the end because it has a redeeming moment with our main characters.

The comedy throughout You Again could have been better. It is always disappointing when with a comedy movie in the trailers you see some great comedic moments and then after seeing the movie you realize that the funniest parts were in the trailer. Betty White as the grandma was a little under utilized for comedy. She really could have made a bigger impact in the laugh department had the writing allowed for it.  The comedy did do a good job though at not going to the demeaning of others for the laughs, but used a lot of situational laughs that most people can relate to one way or another. The chemistry between Bell and Annable works well throughout the movie to really help with the comedy.

You Again is a movie that while not great is an enjoyable movie to watch. Kristen Bell continues to show why she is a strong young actress and Betty White shows she still has good comedy chops and really could have been used more. I am giving You Again two and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie that is worth the rental price and is available currently on instant streaming through Netflix.

-The Movie Man