Veronica Mars

Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated PG-13 for sexuality including references, drug content, violence and some strong language.
Running time: 108 minutes.
Three stars out of four.

Full confession time: I’ve never seen a single episode of “Veronica Mars.” It just escaped my pop-culture purview a decade ago for whatever reason. I knew it had achieved a bit of a cult following but I didn’t understand why. And I knew Kristen Bell had a likable screen presence but I’d never seen her playing the girl-detective the role that made her a star.

Now that I’ve seen “Veronica Mars,” the movie, it all makes sense to me. The snappy banter, the self-aware characters, the twisty mystery — they all come together to make a lively, witty stew. The film is at once charmingly retro and coolly contemporary, borrowing equal parts from gumshoe film noir and self-referential television like “Moonlighting” and “Dawson’s Creek.”

In bringing his petite and plucky heroine to the big screen, series creator Rob Thomas — here serving as both director and co-writer — wisely makes her accessible to fans and neophytes alike. “Veronica Mars” famously used Kickstarter to raise an unprecedented $5.7 million — the reason you’re seeing it in actual theaters, as well as through the convenience of video on demand. People who love the show and the character clearly have a stake in how she’s depicted here, a decade after Thomas introduced her.

Key supporting players are back, including Veronica’s dad, private eye Keith Mars (Enrico Colatoni); former boyfriend Logan (Jason Dohring); and close pals Wallace (Percy Daggs III), Weevil (Francis Capra) and Mac (Tina Majorino). But Thomas and co-writer Diane Ruggiero bring the rest of us up to speed on who Veronica is and what she’s been up to the past few years through a brisk prologue with pithy voiceover.

Having left the wealthy (and apparently crime-addled) beach hamlet of Neptune, Calif., Veronica is now enjoying being big-city girl in New York. She’s just graduated from law school and is on the verge of taking a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm (Jamie Lee Curtis has a couple of quick but effective scenes as the executive who’s wooing her). But when a classmate-turned-pop-star is found dead in a bathtub, and Logan — the singer’s current boyfriend – is named the primed suspect, Veronica knows she has no choice but to come home and solve the mystery. And what do you know? She just happens to have returned in time for her 10-year high school reunion, an event she never would have dreamed of attending otherwise.

As she finds herself getting wrapped up in her old world once more, Veronica must leave behind her current boyfriend, Piz (Chris Lowell), who works for NPR and seems like a decent enough dude. Logan, meanwhile, has transformed himself into a hunky Navy JAG (and the reference to “An Officer and a Gentleman” is inevitable when he shows up in his crisp, white uniform). The fact that “Veronica Mars” doesn’t melodramatize the fact that she finds herself torn between two great guys — or shame her for the brief period in which she’s involved with both of them — is shockingly revolutionary in its understatement and pragmatism.

Then again, Veronica herself is such a breath of fresh air as a strong female character: smart, secure, resourceful, loyal, funny and not the slightest bit chickish. Bell’s presence is delightful — sexy yet accessible — and she handles the highly verbal dialogue with unshakable aplomb. Maybe there are a few too many stray supporting figures and red herrings for her (and us) to sort through as the truth behind the murder becomes clearer, but you won’t mind being by Veronica’s side for a second of her sleuthing.