NANCY DREW
Starring: Maggie Lawson
Original Airdate: December, 2002
Type: Family/Drama
Nancy Drew has been immortalized in many forms. Books, games, TV shows... she's even a breakfast cereal! Okay just kidding about the cereal thing... but she did get her own movie in 2002! Cleverly titled Nancy Drew, this film is all about Nancy's adventures during her first month of college. Maggie Lawson plays a modern, cell-phone-carrying Ms. Drew, the gal with the nose for trouble -- and a good mystery.
Not long after arriving at River Hights University to begin her freshman year as a journalism major, Nancy stumbles onto a case. Seems there's something sinister going on with the sorority girls. Oh wait, that's not a plot, that's just reality! Hahaha... ehhh... Meanwhile, a football player lapses into a coma, the sorority president is like OMG THAT'S MY FIANCE I'M SO SORRY WAHHHH and Nancy's all "Why'd she apologize, hmm?" and launches an investigation. In the process of this investigation, does she tick off --
A) Ned?
B) Her friends?
C) Her father?
D) Everyone on campus?
E) The police?
or
F) All of the above?
Oh yes, you guessed it, the answer is F ALL OF THE ABOVE.
Nancy discovers that football boy OD'd on an enhancement drug and was actually encouraged by his coach to "do whatever it takes" to win the games (*take drugs hint hint*). But she can't prove anything because everyone's too scared to talk. She gets some help from a dorm neighbor and local coffee shop screwup, Hank, who is nothing less than a total reject, and, of course, her trusty friends, Bess and George.
And did I mention the gorgeous Dale Midkiff makes an appearance? Mmmm, yes indeed.
So anyway, Nancy Drew was intended to serve as a pilot for a Saturday-morning TV series that never happened. Oh, how I wish it had. I'm nothing short of a ND fanatic, and this would have thrilled me. But after I saw this movie, I was left going, "Are you kidding me!?"
Crazy things about this film:
--Ned is a total dweeb... but at least he's a hot dweeb, which is more than I can say for the Ned from the 1970's Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys TV show. He's such a stud in the books, what happened? He's barely in this movie... I think they were just trying to set up a Ned-Nancy dramatic situation for the series, but... sheesh, what a lamer.
--Nancy and her dad get in a huge fight and stop speaking to each other! That would NEVER HAPPEN! Oh yeah, sure... first time for everything... but... whatever, that would never happen!!!
--While Nancy is snooping around some place she should not be, she is caught -- and arrested. Once again, that would never happen. Yes, of course, she got caught all the time in the books -- but by BAD GUYS who would then, oh, tie her up and leave her to die on a sinking yacht or maybe in a closet somewhere or something like that. But involve the police? What? The girl knows the chief of police! She practically owns them, in the books! She calls -- they come running. They would not arrest her! She'd just be like "Hey, fellas, does the name CHIEF MCGINNIS mean anything to you?" and they would fall to their knees. And cry. Well maybe it wouldn't go that far, but incarceration would not occur!
Well, that's about it. It's a nice movie with a vaguely interesting storyline, some decent eye candy, and so on... but I still think Nancy Drew deserves better than this.
7/10/2005
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