Veronica Mars (2014)

I have been almost completely divorced from popular culture for so long that I never saw the TV series that inspired this movie.  There were three seasons and they were critical if not commercial successes.

After the series was cancelled, the writer, Rob Thomas, and the star, Kristen Bell, wanted to do a movie, but they had trouble interesting a studio.  So they did what all good hipsters do, they launched a Kickstarter campaign, which yielded their goal of $2.1 million in just 10 hours and ultimately raked in $5.7 million.  Not bad at all.  They then got Warner to distribute the finished DVD.

The story line closely follows the original series, only now Veronica has just graduated from law school--the years have moved on and so has she.  In the middle of her interview for a high powered New York law firm she gets a call from an old high school fried.  He is accused of the murder of his ex-girlfriend and the openly corrupt sheriff's department shows absolutely no interest in justice.  They are all on the take, and her home town of Neptune has become a place of have's and have not's.  While the plot is pretty predictable, the dialogue is very good, and is on par with some BBC crime dramas.  You have to like detective dramas to enjoy this, but if you do this one is well worth watching.