A near perfect love letter to fans of the series, Veronica Mars is also a compelling enough story and mystery to stand on its own.

On the cusp of landing a big lawyer job in New York at a prestigious firm, Veronica Mars (Kristin Bell) is drawn back home to Neptune, CA when ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) is accused of murdering his current girlfriend. This also happens to coincide with her 10 year reunion and despite going just to help Logan find a lawyer to represent him, Veronica gets drawn back into the private eye game in a case that encompasses most of her old friends and enemies from the show.

Veronica Mars is a difficult movie to review from an objective standpoint as I am a fan of the show upon which it is based and so I ate up the copious amounts of fan services spread around the film and I was very gratified by what was done and how it was done. My feeling for the outsider is that the case itself is compelling and interesting enough to satisfy a new comer to the material but it is kind of hard to tell as a fan. I will say that it has been many years since I watched any episodes of the show and my memory of it was pretty fuzzy going in here for whatever that is worth.

The film, like the show, is very cleverly written with genuinely funny dialogue and the mystery is engaging and interesting. I was concerned about how this would be handled as the film had less time to deal with relationships and side stories while trying to pull off an overreaching murder mystery but co-writer/director Rob Thomas manages to do everything in a compact package that never feels like it is shortchanging one aspect or another.

With nine years separating this movie and the show it would have been easy to imagine that there would be some rust here for everyone involved but none of that showed here at all. The chemistry was there and none of the characters felt strange or false. This is an impressive feat as it seems like transitions from small screen to big screen can run a big risk of the characters just not quite feeling right and when the fan service happens it is inorganically wedged in there in such a way that feels strange and off putting. That was not at all the case here as everyone felt right and the fan service fit in properly. When throwing out to some of the old characters from the show it never felt like that character was there just as an excuse for that character that people want to see to be there. It was more like ‘okay we need her to talk to someone who does this thing and that character is who she would talk to.’ New characters could have been created to deal with this stuff but that would be silly when you have characters ready to go. The reunion angle is a little bit of a cheat but the timing is right and it fits into the story so it is not something that bothered me.

There are things that go on in the movie that may bother some fans depending on how they want the characters to end up and with whom but while I am not going to reveal any spoilers, I have to say that whether you like the developments or not they happen in a way that feels right in the context of the film and nothing feels like a shortcut taken just to service fans. As a self contained unit, the film has its own internal logic and core and nothing that happens contradicts that. That logic and core is shared with the show as well. It does feel a bit like it is just a long episode of the show but that is okay because if it felt very much different it wouldn’t be Veronica Mars.

As with the writing and general tone, the performances were all on point and felt like they did on the show. I am a fan of Kristen Bell and she fell back into Veronica with ease. It was a little weird to see after getting so into her character on House of Lies but that is my issue as opposed to hers. The show made me a fan of Jason Dohring and it was good to see him again here as I haven’t really seen him since Moonlight. Also of particular note is Enrico Colantoni as Veronica’s father Keith. This was a defining relationship on the show and it was great to see that the chemistry between the two has not suffered for the gap in time.

Conclusion [9.0 out of 10]

Obviously my score has caveats. If you hated the TV show there is very little here that is going to change your mind. This movie is first and foremost for the fans which makes sense given that they bankrolled it. The film doesn’t feel like it is pandering even when it is and it is a legitimately good movie that should satisfy fans of the show. If you haven’t seen the show, there is enough here to hold your interest but the better idea would be to go watch the show and then watch this because you will get a lot more out of it. For my money, as a fan of the show, this movie was far better than I expected it to be and it nailed the tone, the feel and the fun of the show and gave me pretty much everything I would have wanted. I am not really sure if I am right that this can stand on its own but if it does I think it is just a by product of being a good movie as opposed to a new audience being chased. This is for fans and that is just as it should be.