2.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for teen misbehavior, sexual content and plenty of implied raunch
By Derrick Bang
In a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, Josh Schwartz, who
brought us television’s Gossip Girl
and The O.C., cited several
kid-friendly classics as inspiration for his big-screen directorial debut.
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| When Wren (Victoria Justice) and Roosevelt (Thomas Mann) take a wrong turn, winding up in the downtown cruise zone on Halloween night, they run afoul of a hot-tempered Thor (Patrick de Ledebur). Trying to elude this angry bully will result in a vulgar sight gag that typifies what is frequently wrong with this clumsy film. |
It’s an impressive list, ranging
from Adventures in Babysitting and Home Alone to The Goonies and Sixteen
Candles. Any director would be proud to land in their company.
Alas, that’s unlikely to happen
with Fun Size, thanks to the
bewildering and frequently distasteful level of raunch contained within Max
Werner’s screenplay.
Werner, a longtime writer for
TV’s The Colbert Report, seems to
have misplaced his target audience. Parents aren’t likely to appreciate exposing
their young children to this script’s sleazier elements — the PG-13 rating is
well earned — but, at the same time, the film certainly isn’t cheeky enough for
teens. In that respect, Fun Size is
neither fish nor fowl, and probably won’t please anybody.
Which is a shame, because the
core story’s heart is in the right place, and some of the elements in Werner’s
screenplay are quite funny. They’re simply overshadowed by sniggering sex jokes
that land like lead balloons.
Really, what were Paramount and
Nickelodeon thinking? Victoria Justice is well known as a wholesome presence on
the latter’s Zoey 101, iCarly and Victorious; dumping her into a storyline that tries to milk humor
from (for example) the image of a giant mechanical chicken humping a car —
don’t ask — seems the height of miscast folly.
Justice stars as Wren, a mildly
geeky teen hoping to enjoy an exciting Halloween with best friend April (Jane
Levy). With some luck, they might score an invite to the party hosted by hunky
Aaron Riley (Thomas McDonell): definitely the social event of the season.
Wren’s home life is a shambles,
thanks to a bratty younger brother who never talks — Jackson Nicoll, as Albert
— and a mother, Joy, who is trying to recapture her youth by dating a loser
half her age. Joy is played by Chelsea Handler, who’s definitely in search of a
smuttier movie. (Schwartz and Werner try to oblige.)
