I saw a bit of online chatter about Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019), and thought I’d give it a try. It definitely wasn’t for me, but I liked it a lot.
It starts with Sophia Lillis as Nancy finding out that one of her friends (Mackenzie Graham) is being cyber-bullied in a crude video, and sets out to get revenge with another friend (Zoe Renee). They replace a shower head in the boys locker room so that it sprays photo-sensitive blue dye all over the culprit, a jock BMOC. I mention this mainly because Heinlein used this gag in Podkayne of Mars. But I wonder if he stole it from Carole Keene?
The jock’s girlfriend, Andrea Anders, is pretty hostile, the typical mean girl, but she also wants Nancy’s help to find out who is haunting her aunt’s house. Of course, the haunting is fake ala Scooby Doo, and the mean girl will drop her jerk boyfriend and become pals with Nancy’s crew. There’s a train coming to town that Nancy’s widower father supports (he’s a lawyer for the railroad, or something) and her aunt opposes. It’s all wrapped up neatly in under an hour and a half.
The main thing I liked about this was Lillis. She’s a great looking kid with a short shaggy red dye job, who rides a skateboard and solves crimes. I expect to see her in a lot more movies soon. The rest of the cast was doing a great job too. But although this movie is about high-school (I guess?) kids, it is clearly aimed at 10-12 year olds. There is no sex and barely any romance - it is pre-pubescent in outlook. So much so that I even felt a little weird watching it as an adult.
But weird or not, I’m glad I watched.
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