Director: Andrew Fleming
Starring: Emma Roberts, Rachael Leigh Cook, Max Thieriot, Josh Flitter, Tate Donovan, Joanne Baron, Amy Bruckner, Daniella Monet, Laura Harring

- Reviewed by Linda

Blink, and you may have missed Nancy Drew's theatrical release (I certainly don't remember hearing about it!). It was probably buried in the glut of 'tween girl Disney comedies and three-quels, which is too bad. Nancy Drew is actually pretty darn cute.

At the start of the film, Nancy (Emma Roberts) is packing up to leave from her small town (in a "fly-over state") to go to Los Angeles with her father. Her kinda-boyfriend Ned (squeaky-clean Max Thieriot) is sure going to miss her, and Nancy has promised her dad (Tate Donovan) "no sleuthing!" while they are in LA. No problem, promises Nancy, but she just so happens to have tracked down the perfect rental house for 50s-fashion-fans Nancy and her dad to live in... a house with a mystery! Apparently a beautiful starlet was murdered there in the 1980s (oh! so long ago!) and the case was never solved. Enter a new sidekick (Josh Flitter), the starlet's illegitimate daughter (Rachael Leigh Cook), and a creepy caretaker that has stayed alone in the house for 20 years (Marshall Bell), and... you've got a case for amateur teen sleuth Nancy Drew!

The Nancy Drew novels originally started in 1930 and have morphed over time into the uber-successful series of books. Rather than completely updating any classic story for modern times, this Nancy Drew is indeed a modern girl, but kind of stuck in the 1950s in more ways than one (she and her dad are just fans of the era, they claim). Her modern classmates at the LA high school mock her and shun her, until a couple of girls try to take her to some fashion shops for a makeover. Much to their chagrin, Nancy's style is dubbed "sincere", therefore totally hip.

Nancy Drew, itself, has a cute, un-ironic sincerity about it. Though it pokes gentle fun at Nancy's dorkiness, and her constant ability to save the day (always cracking cases that the local law enforcement always fail to), there is never any question that Nancy is one smart cookie. Adult fans should appreciate how the film has fun with the original stories' earnestness (as well as the constant use of the word "sleuth" as both a noun and a verb), and younger viewers will enjoy what is basically a fun and exciting mystery.

There is a bevy of extras, including the usual behind-the-scenes featurette, a gag-reel, a music video of "Pretty Much Amazing" by Joanna, and a handful of mini-featurettes... my favorites of these included Emma Roberts gleefully showing off what really was in Nancy's sleuth kit, and the teen actors giving us a peek of what they were listening to on their iPods (Curious that many of the boys favored classic rock! Some things never change...).

Official Movie Site

Agree? Disagree? Go to the Forum!  |  Back to Video/DVD

Home | Currently Playing | For Rent | "Get to know us!"

©2008 Moviepie e-mail us