Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Apr 14, 2016 11:18:35 GMT -5
Nancy Drew
Dir. Andrew Fleming
Premiered June 15, 2007
While re-watching the Spider-Man trilogy, it struck me that perhaps it would be more suitable for long-running superhero comics to be adapted into period pieces. Tim Burton’s Batman kinda did that, and while I still enjoy the first two Sam Raimi films, a lot of Spider-Man’s character is rooted in the milieu and worldview of the 1960s. The same could be said for the character of Nancy Drew.
This is not a new problem for the Nancy Drew franchise. First written in the 1930s, girl detective Nancy Drew was a tough, resourceful heroine fit for the Great Depression. In the 1960s, however, the books were republished with Nancy’s lifestyle, clothes, and personality remade to be more affluent and “ladylike” (read: cowardly) for the new era. I don’t think either version would work in the present day, and I’m even less certain what they could have done with her in 2007, but this wasn’t it.
In Nancy Drew, Emma Roberts plays the title character as a serial overachiever and borderline mystery-solving addict who’s the hero ofPasadena her midwestern hometown, until her father (Tate Donovan) takes a temporary job in Los Angeles. Hungry for more sleuthing, Nancy surreptitiously finds them an abandoned mansion once owned by a New Hollywood-era starlet who mysteriously died 25 years before, an idea that sounds interesting on paper, but whose execution is a triumph of apathetic filmmaking.
Back in 2007, I was in high school and was secretly mildly interested in seeing this movie (the image of a Vintage Queen Emma Roberts appealed to me), but the trailers gave the impression that the film was set in the 1950s or early 60s, which would still be wrong, but never mind. Instead, Nancy is merely a self-conscious throwback in a contemporary setting, much like the 1987 film Dragnet, which winkingly inserted Joe Friday into an 80s buddy cop film; but Nancy Drew never commits to the gimmick. Instead, it takes a long break from the plot in favor of some rote teenage shenanigans to distract from the fact that there isn’t really that much going on.
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Screenwriters Tiffany Paulsen and Andrew Fleming (also the director) had never even read any of the books, as they seem only vaguely familiar with the concept. There’s no question who the villain is, and neither his plan nor his co-conspirators appear until the final act. Consequently there’s no tension or stakes, and everything is defined by a total lack of care. The one bright spot is Roberts as Nancy, who still manages to capture the original character’s unique combination of bravery and old world charm.
Sign This Was Made in 2007
The mostly godawful generic pop soundtrack. One exception Gorillaz’s “Dare,” which is completely wasted.
Additional Notes
Also in Theaters
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was a sequel nobody remembers to a movie nobody liked, and also a nine figure blockbuster, the first of the year for 20th Century Fox. June 15 also saw the release of The Wager, which was the first film ever produced by Christploitation studio Pure Flix.
Next Time: 1408
Dir. Andrew Fleming
Premiered June 15, 2007
While re-watching the Spider-Man trilogy, it struck me that perhaps it would be more suitable for long-running superhero comics to be adapted into period pieces. Tim Burton’s Batman kinda did that, and while I still enjoy the first two Sam Raimi films, a lot of Spider-Man’s character is rooted in the milieu and worldview of the 1960s. The same could be said for the character of Nancy Drew.
This is not a new problem for the Nancy Drew franchise. First written in the 1930s, girl detective Nancy Drew was a tough, resourceful heroine fit for the Great Depression. In the 1960s, however, the books were republished with Nancy’s lifestyle, clothes, and personality remade to be more affluent and “ladylike” (read: cowardly) for the new era. I don’t think either version would work in the present day, and I’m even less certain what they could have done with her in 2007, but this wasn’t it.
In Nancy Drew, Emma Roberts plays the title character as a serial overachiever and borderline mystery-solving addict who’s the hero of
Back in 2007, I was in high school and was secretly mildly interested in seeing this movie (the image of a Vintage Queen Emma Roberts appealed to me), but the trailers gave the impression that the film was set in the 1950s or early 60s, which would still be wrong, but never mind. Instead, Nancy is merely a self-conscious throwback in a contemporary setting, much like the 1987 film Dragnet, which winkingly inserted Joe Friday into an 80s buddy cop film; but Nancy Drew never commits to the gimmick. Instead, it takes a long break from the plot in favor of some rote teenage shenanigans to distract from the fact that there isn’t really that much going on.
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Screenwriters Tiffany Paulsen and Andrew Fleming (also the director) had never even read any of the books, as they seem only vaguely familiar with the concept. There’s no question who the villain is, and neither his plan nor his co-conspirators appear until the final act. Consequently there’s no tension or stakes, and everything is defined by a total lack of care. The one bright spot is Roberts as Nancy, who still manages to capture the original character’s unique combination of bravery and old world charm.
Sign This Was Made in 2007
The mostly godawful generic pop soundtrack. One exception Gorillaz’s “Dare,” which is completely wasted.
Additional Notes
- Director Andrew Fleming also directed The Craft, Dick, Hamlet 2, and several episodes of Arrested Development, so you’d think he’d be able to adapt Nancy Drew with the necessary amount of humor (though Hamlet 2 is similarly confused), but the script is mostly joke free. I did laugh when Nancy appeared reading a book in bed called Advanced Sandcastle Building, which made me think of Wes Anderson and how he could make a great Nancy Drew film.
- Curiously, Fleming makes great use of this movie to showcase Los Angeles, especially Downtown. The city’s depiction here is far more realistic and detailed than 24, for instance, and just makes me think he wanted to make a comedic homage to film noir. However, this does lead to some weirdly out-of-place elements. Nancy attends Hollywood High School, a real public school with a mostly working-class student body and a uniform, but Nancy’s token mean-girl classmates are Bratz-doll knockoffs who dress in bizarre, extravagant, and unrealistically non-black nouveau-riche fashions for maximum contrast.
- The weirdest thing about this movie is that one element did catch on: Nancy’s vintage style becomes popular in-universe and is dubbled “The New Sincerity.” All of which actually happened within a few years of this film’s release.
Also in Theaters
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was a sequel nobody remembers to a movie nobody liked, and also a nine figure blockbuster, the first of the year for 20th Century Fox. June 15 also saw the release of The Wager, which was the first film ever produced by Christploitation studio Pure Flix.
Next Time: 1408
