You Again Review

From first seeing the trailers for “You Again” directed by Andy Fickman, a trite plot was expected. The film starts with a montage of a pity reel for the ugly and unpopular Marni (Kristen Bell) of course being bullied by the pretty and popular Johanna (Odette Yustman). Disney films never fail to show the dichotomy between the ugly duckling and the mean beautiful ducks. However this film does take a minuscule twist.

Several years have gone by and now Marni is a successful, and of course pretty, PR agent. Of course she can be successful now that she lost her bangs, acne, and glasses, which pretty much describes most teenagers, proving that fixing physical flaws can give you happiness.

Marni is on her way home for her brother Will’s (Jimmy Wolk) wedding unknowing that his fiancé is her nemesis from high school Johanna.

However, Johanna is now a good-doer devoting her life to helping others, who tries to forget her evil past completely to the point where she pretends to not remember Marni at all. Naturally this strikes anger in Marni that she cannot even be remembered by her nemesis when certain clues throughout the film suggest Johanna is lying, and revenge begins.

Yet, revenge goes deeper within this family. Johanna’s aunt, Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) had a rivalry with Marni’s mom Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis). The competitions grow more intense and the revenges thicken. Going to show, everyone, victim or bully, receives their just deserts.

The film is like a bad sequel to “Mean Girls,” (2004) that is if the characters from Mean Girls never resolved their issues and married each other’s siblings.

The witty filming and the supporting characters saved the film. Each time a nemesis was presented, a slow motion shot was taken with wind blowing through the bully’s hair creating a humorous illusion of how envious these women are of their tormenters. Others scenes were also shot nicely going back and forth to show facial expressions or eyes glancing.

Unfortunately, Bell did not uphold her comedic performance like that of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (2008) in comparison to her supporting characters. Though Bell is not entirely to blame, it seemed Moe Jelline, the writer, focused more on the older stars rather than the interaction between Bell and Yustman. Stars kept popping up surprising the audience with hilarious five-minute parts like Kristin Chenoweth, The Rock, and the hilarious Betty White. White played Bell’s grandmother, Bunny, and got audiences hysterically laughing.

The movie does show how even nice girls can be mean. Even after the audience has realized that though Johanna has turned a new leaf and is madly in love with Marni’s brother, Marni still decides to publicly humiliate Johanna the night before her wedding. As a result, Marni also has a short fall out with her brother, realizing the damage she has done she still continues to be the mean girl and attack her “Satan sister-in-law.” It’s not until they both realize that they have destroyed the wedding that a friendship is possible. Once again, a happily ever after with a few more minor twists to follow. What else would be expected from a Disney film?

Though there are some hilarious moments, and a nice underlying plot, this movie was just generic fluff. There was no true “sweet” character besides Bunny. At least with the film “Mean Girls” Cady (Lindsey Lohan) had a genuine sweet side. There was not any existence of a genuine sweet person for either the pathetic Marni or the overly nice Johanna. “You Again,” though not one of the best films of the year, does deserve a C+. It is a great film to see with your mother, and it does get one thing right, high school sucks and it doesn’t end after graduation.