Veronica Mars **** (out of *****)

Were you a fan of Rob Thomas’s short-lived series “Veronica Mars” when it was on? I know I was. Our cable provider back then didn’t carry the CW, so we would download the episodes in bunches and watch until all hours of the night. We even checked out a projector from the university so we could have the biggest screen possible. The fan base for the show was a small but loyal one, and now almost a decade after it went off the air we get a new look at the characters we grew to love.

The movie kicks off with about two minutes of montage and narration. It serves as a quick reminder of where we left things for the fans, and a quick way to catch up the uninitiated. Thomas and co-writer Diane Ruggiero do a great job of giving the fans what they want while making a movie that anyone can enjoy.

It doesn’t take long to feel like you’re right back in the middle of these characters lives. Veronica is meeting with a group of lawyers about a potential job, Piz works for WBEZ (great Chicago shoutout), and not even ten minutes into the movie Veronica’s old love interest Logan Echolls is wanted for murder in her hometown of Neptune, CA.

What follows is ostensibly a really long episode of the show with more cursing. Veronica goes to help Logan and meets up with her old friends Wallace and Mac. During her first scene with Logan he says somethjng like “we’re falling right back into our old rhythms,” and that is exactly what it feels like. The way it is written you’d think Thomas started right after the series ended knowing that one day they’d be able to return (they almost made a continuation series about Veronica going to the FBI, but it was never picked up).

I’m sure some people that see this movie will complain that it looks too much like a TV show. I’d argue that some fans had the same argument about Avengers when it came out. With a modest budget, director Thomas has crafted a slicker, more polished version of familiar settings. And as always he gets great performances.

The chemistry between the actors is as great as it ever was, particularly the dynamic between Veronica and her father Keith (Enrico Colantoni). Their back and forths was a big part of the original series, and here they hit all the right notes, so from their very first interaction it feels just like old times. The rest of the cast, filled with other Neptune High alum is like a who’s who of great role players: Krysten Ritter, Martin Starr, Ken Marino, Jerry O’Connell, Ryan Hansen. Hell, even James Franco makes a couple appearances. And Gaby Hoffman continues to reign as the queen of weird characters that make all her movies just a little more interesting.

I won’t give away anymore of what happens. If you like detective movies or mysteries, but have never seen the show, I’d definitely still recommend Veronica Mars. If you did watch the show, it just feels like getting the old gang back together for one last hurrah. I hope that they make enough money off this movie to warrant a sequel, but if they don’t they picked a great way to end it for good.