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Nancy Drew
First seen in 1930s novels, the popular teen detective resurfaces for an original modern-day story set in the Hollywood Hills. Emma Roberts (daughter of Eric, niece of Julia) takes the title role
Nancy Drew opens with its perky little heroine apprehending a couple of burglars and delivering them to police via a rooftop scramble. This is not a young woman to be messed with. "Nancy's my best man! I mean, she would be if she were on the force," stutters the local sheriff admiringly. All is very well in sleepy River Heights, but it's a different story in LA, as concerned lawyer father Carson Drew (Donovan) explains. Moving to a rambling old Hollywood house with his daughter, Drew warns Nancy that the local cops won't take her quite as seriously - and sure enough, she soon has them in fits of laughter with her po-faced sleuthing. The joke, of course, will be on them when Nancy has solved an age-old crime: the murder of Hollywood starlet Dehlia Draycott, the mansion's former owner who has left clues littered around the house. Unfortunately, the case isn't a very interesting one: only two suspects present themselves and the dated nature of the film gives it a distinct lack of urgency. Nancy Drew frequently departs from detective procedural mode in favour of another genre: the teen movie. Nancy is the nerdy new girl, dressed in home-made outfits and first to answer questions in class. The cool girls mistrust her, but chubby, precocious youngster Corky (Flitter) idolises her. And so a moderately amusing odd-couple friendship develops. A gifted comic actor, Flitter provides a few laughs as he feigns an interest in mysteries and vies with Nancy's hometown friend Ned (Thieriot) for her attention. There's also a startling comic scene in which Adam Goldberg appears as a frustrated, distinctly untalented filmmaker directing Bruce Willis playing himself. But this sudden departure highlights the fact that there is no consistency in the film's tone. It swings between pratfalls and sentiment with little grace, and mocks Nancy one minute before idealising her the next. Visually, Nancy Drew has its strengths, from the faded, dimly-lit grandeur of the dusty Hollywood mansion to Nancy's perfectly put-together little outfits. But there's slim chance that this Nancy's brand of geek chic will catch on with audiences, despite the film's rather belated attempt to cast her as a trend-setter (enchanted with her old-fashioned look, a fashion store publishes her picture). "I like old fashioned things," protests Nancy, but her Hollywood starlet mystery is likely to go down as well with young audiences as it does with her disinterested teen peers. Verdict This update on the Nancy Drew saga uses old-fashioned stylings in a modern context to confusing, and none-too-suspenseful effect. It's a non-event that fails to do the much-loved character justice. |
