After watching the trailer for this movie, I kinda expected a decent chick-flick that shouldn’t be too bad. Considering the decent cast of Kristen Bell, Odette Yustman, Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis. If you are a guy and find women attractive, this movie is worth watching for Odette Yustman alone. Oh my god, I swear, she is a goddess sent to Earth.
You Again tells the story of Marni (Kristen Bell), a girl who was bullied terribly in high school and blossomed into a successful young lady working for a PR firm in another state. When she goes back to her home state for her brother’s wedding, she finds out that he is marrying her worst nightmare- Joanna (Odette Yustman), the girl who bullied her in high school. It turns out that Joanna has completely changed and is no longer the girl she used to be. Marni refuses to believe it and tries her best to expose Joanna’s past to her family. Hilarity ensues when Joanna’s visiting aunt, Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) turns out to be Marni’s mother, Gail’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) nemesis as well.
An interesting story that is downplayed by the immature gags weaved into the plot. Then again, what did you expect from a movie distributed by Disney? There are also parts of the story which felt like unnecessary fillers. It’s all good wholesome fun that isn’t by any means terrible, but fails to take the comedy into places where other movies haven’t gone before. Besides the unexpected cameo by the Rock in the intro, everything else seemed so scripted and forced. And one of the best gags was shown in the trailer- Gail and Ramona showing up to the wedding dinner in the same dress.
Kristen Bell plays Marni well, and is believable as the bullied high school girl (props to the make up/costume team for doing a great job with her looks as well). Odette Yustman, where do I begin? She is drop dead gorgeous. After only catching glimpses of her in Cloverfield, I haven’t had the chance to see her in any other movie until she appeared as Joanna in You Again. Though I didn’t like how Joanna’s role wasn’t clearly defined throughout the movie. After her introduction, in which she appears to be the perfect angel, her role then changed into somewhere in between evil and not-so-evil. I think they could’ve done a better job in that aspect. Gail and Ramona are played well, and provide some pretty good laughs in the show as well.
All in all, You Again will tickle some funny bones, but you won’t find yourself tearing up and gasping for air. There’s definitely something for everyone. A family-oriented, kid-safe comedy that you could bring your parents to. I’d rate You Again 5/10.