Post by StevePulaski on Apr 5, 2019 17:40:48 GMT -5
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Directed by: Katt Shea
Directed by: Katt Shea
Nancy Drew (center, right) with her friends in Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase.
Rating: ★★
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase plays exactly like a mid-2000's Disney Channel movie — and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'll concede that this kind of entertainment has taken a unfortunate backseat in the age of Pixar and Marvel, but when you watch something like this, with its perpetually lame dialog, silly characters, and plot-points that fluctuate between silly and mildly interesting, you remember why this family-friendly genre has floundered in recent years.
To be upfront, I know I'm not the target audience for Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase. I've seen a handful of positive reviews from critics and audiences, and that's all right with me. What can I, a jaded film reviewer of almost ten years, say in response to a young girl who sees herself in Nancy Drew, or is overjoyed to see "someone like her" on the big-screen? There's value in this kind of film. But when you have such tremendous, inclusive entertainment in the form of films like Instant Family, Paddington, and even The LEGO Movie 2, this kind of unremarkable cheapie gets lost in the shuffle, and even ignored by its primary demographic.
For those unaware, Nancy Drew was the main character in a popular book series back in the 1930s. A teenage detective known for her savvy sleuthing, Nancy Drew also made the leap to movies when Bonita Granville squeezed into her shoes for a few B-movie outings around the same time. A mid-2000s reboot starring Emma Roberts (of Nickelodeon's Unfabulous) failed to gain much traction, but apparently, Nancy's namesake still holds water with studios and investors who saw enough reason to reboot the character some 12 years later.
This time around, Nancy Drew is played by Sophia Lillis, the recognizable redhead who made a splash in It just a couple years ago. We open with a well-edited montage of Nancy freely skateboarding in the background of the opening credits, which, too, reveal that Ellen DeGeneres is one of the primary executive producers of this film (I guess you could say she was feeling "hella generous"). From the first few minutes, we can tell Nancy has been ever-so-tailored to match the contemporary times. She's smart with social media and technology, and she's unafraid to assert her role as a strong young woman in a culture ostensibly preoccupied with knocking her down a peg. We see her do this when she comes to the rescue of her friend Bess (Mackenzie Graham), who is humiliated online by a school-jock named Derek (Evan Castelloe). Derek gets a taste of his own comeuppance, but the gag forces Nancy to do several hours of community service.
Nancy lives with her father, Carson (Sam Trammell), a respectable lawyer, still grieving over the very recent death of his wife and Nancy's mother. He tries his best to discourage his daughter's perpetual desire to get even, but realizes it's tough when you've raised your child to be as strong and independently minded as she. Nancy finds her place when she meets Flora (Linda Lavin), an elderly woman who is convinced her house is haunted, due to mysterious and unexplainable forces coming to life in her kitchen and living-room in recent days. Nancy works with Flora and does her best to get along with Helen (Laura Slade Wiggins), a rude, stuck-up woman a tad older than her, in order to rationalize the paranormal activity taking place. I'll pump the brakes there, assuming you're on the edge of your seat to find out what happens next.
Directed by Katt Shea (best known for the early nineties, Drew Barrymore vehicle Poison Ivy), Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase oozes the kind of girl power you'd assume a modern reboot of Nancy Drew would. The spirit and charisma of Lillis is sustainable enough that you could believe she has a couple more of these films under her belt, but given the fact that the first attempt didn't work, and Warner Bros. hasn't released the box office numbers for this (and the fact it got an unassuming VOD release days later) means this will probably start and stop one movie shy of a sequel. This is another kids movie that feels specifically for young tweens, the kind who need something either edgy or based off a property form their generation in order to embrace. It feels it has to implement dopey slang and downright corny lines as a way of trying to be hip. Thankfully, many of those subside once the mystery takes over, and it's far from being Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer-level insufferable.
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is effectively inoffensive and mildly amusing. I had a conversation with a coworker the other day where I reiterated my belief in how spoiled our generation was insofar that we saw so many of our favorite characters make the leap to the theater screen. Now, a chunk of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon's digital real estate is essentially served as a dumping ground for generic kiddie fair. This Nancy Drew reboot doesn't sink to junk drawer-lows, but it's far from the kind of entertainment you've come to subconsciously demand in this saturated climate.
Starring: Sophia Lillis, Linda Lavin, Laura Slade Wiggins, Sam Trammell, Mackenzie Graham, Zoe Renee, and Evan Castelloe. Directed by: Katt Shea.