Nancy Drew

I know I know, what is a man my age doing watching Nancy Drew. The wife sent me off to Blockbuster with a list of movies she thought looked fun, Nancy Drew was on that list, and most everything else was out of stock. Do I regret having seen Nancy Drew... not at all.

This movie is stuck somewhere tween your Disney Channel fare and a high school movie. In other words it's not entirely an all-parents-are-dumb-and-kids-rule-the-world movie, but it's not a total you-can't-date-her/him-because-they're-too-hot-and-you're-too-not popularity contest movie. It certainly has its share of ill-tempered prom queens and fashion divas, and it also has a real Scooby-Doo cartoony feel to it, but neither one reigns supreme.

In an attempt to draw both crowds, young Nancy had two romantic interests. One in the form of a unspoken boyfriend-to-be, a boy her own age and of comparable dateability. The other in the form of a plucky side-kick who would love to date the Nancy, but despite being too young still gets to hang out with her anyway, which is a dream for any kid who has just started to notice girls.

The story itself is decent enough, and full of all kinds of colorful and fun characters who aren't unnecessarily complicated. The plot and gags aren't overly stupid, and it doesn't fit comfortably into to extremely formulaic genres that you've seen a million times before. If you're not looking for an overly intellectual cinematic experience, you'll probably find this movie pretty fun.

high points: Dad isn't too stupid, squeaky clean fun.
low points: Having to face the clerk at the Blockbuster in Newark with Nancy Drew in my stack of movies.