Fun Size is yet another film that manages to live up to it's title...it is indeed quite fun.
Fun Size is the story of Wren (Victoria Justice) and her weird younger brother Albert (Jackson Nicoll). On Halloween, Wren plans on attending a party that her crush, Aaron Riley (Thomas McDonell), is hosting. Unfortunately, those plans are nixed when she is left home to take Albert Trick or Treating while her slightly whacked mom (Chelsea Handler) goes to a party of her own. Wren isn't too pleased to spend her night babysitting Albert, and apparently Albert feels the same way since he ditches his sister the first chance he gets and runs away to a convenience store where he teams up with store clerk Fuzzy (Thomas Middleditch) to exact revenge on girlfriend stealing, all around douche Jorgen (an uncredited Johnny Knoxville). Meanwhile, frantic to find Albert, Wren enlists the aide of best friend April (Jane Levy), and nerds Roosevelt (Thomas Mann) and Peng (Osric Chau).
Victoria Justice does a surprisingly good job in the role of everyday girl Wren, who yearns to be more popular (she looks tasty in her dorothy costume, and the film does aknowledge this at times). Jane Levy is fine as hot best friend to Wren April, who is none too happy to be missing out on Aaron's party to hang with two nerds and try to find Wren's little brother. To her, this is social suicide. While she does a pretty good job here, most will want to take notice since she stars in the upcoming remake of the Evil Dead. Thomas Mann is good as Roosevelt, who is a friend to Wren and obviously has a crush on her. Johnny Knoxville is believable as the dickbag, Jorgen. That said, he doesn't do all that great of a job here since he is essentially himself here.
By far, the best parts of the film are Albert and Fuzzy, who make for one awesome duo. Jackson Nicoll plays Albert, a weird 8 year old that, for whatever reason, decided to quit talking around a year ago. For Halloween, he goes as a one-armed Spider-Man and goes about creating chaos wherever he goes. He is ridiculously fun to watch and helps to elevate the film a good deal. He is a boy of many skills as we learn in the last scene of the film, n which he makes an embarrassing video remix of Wren. he also gets his own special credits scene. Thomas Middleditch plays Fuzzy, a convienience store clerk. He is a socially awkward outcast who decides to team up with Albert for some revenge. This could have come across as creepy, but in this film the teaming of Fuzzy and Albert works, and is actually quite endearing. It's fun to watch these two work together, and I really dug Fuzzy's awkwardness and bumbling.
Fun Size switches between the two stories, Albert's and Wren's, as they progress thoughout the night. While Albert's is obviously the better one here, there is still enough fun to be had with Wren's story that you won't ever be all that bored. There are moments where the film drags, but these never last for very long. Fun Size is a PG-13 film and there are some pretty adult parts in it including a scene of extended breast grabbing, some naughty language, a car humping chicken, a close up of Justice's butt, and a whole lot of sexual innuendo. I applaud Nickelodeon for taking a risk here, and luckily it pays off. I really do think the film just wouldn't have been as funny if it was rated PG instead. Nickelodeon has yet disappoint me.
Fun Size is a film about the bizarreness of not just Halloween, but of life. The film celebrates life's wackiness and it praises the joys of not fitting in and dancing to your own drum, hoisting the outcasts up on it's shoulders. It was a film that very much made my inner geek scream with joy. The humor in the film is of a rich, wacky, bizarre, awkward, random quality...and I laughed my butt off constantly. Fun Size has easily become one of my favorites of the year. It's one of the most creative, original films I've seen in a while (though it does borrow some inspiration from Adventures in Babysitting, the final product is luckily as different from that film as you can get). Fun Size is indeed a fun sized treat that makes for recommended Halloween season viewing.
3.5/ 5 STARS
No comments:
Post a Comment