You Again

Plot

In 2002, Marni Olsen (Kristen Bell) is an acne-riddled high school sophomore in Ridgefield, California, with glasses and braces, making a video about how much she hates high school, and reveals how she is tormented and bullied by other children, specifically J-J the high school mean girl (Odette Yustman), who made Marni's high school life miserable. She adds that her protective older brother, Will (James Wolk), was very popular as a handsome basketball player. However, at a very important basketball game, J-J pushes the mascot (Marni), who runs into Will, resulting in a loss of the game.

Eight years later, in 2010, she is a successful public relations executive in Los Angeles, recently promoted to a job in New York. When she returns to Ridgecrest to her attend her older brother's Georgia King (Kristin Chenoweth) planned wedding, she discovers that Will is about to marry a girl named Joanna, who happens to be J-J. When Marni meets Joanna for the first time in eight years, Joanna seems not to recognize her. Marni is also upset to see that Joanna fits in very well with the family during her welcome home dinner, where we learn Joanna's parents died after high school and that she has done an ample amount of charity work. The plot thickens when Marni's mother Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) meets up with Joanna's aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver), Gail's former best friend who pushed her into a pool at their senior prom. Ramona is now a successful, wealthy woman who owns several hotels and a private plane.

Although Gail seems willing to put the past behind her, she still feels the need to "outdo" Ramona during their interactions together. On the other hand, Marni is unwilling to forget the things Joanna did to her in high school, unless she apologizes, and decides to try to let her brother know of Joanna's bullying past. Her attempts to get Will alone for a conversation fail. When Marni tells Joanna that she knows who she really is, it is obvious that Joanna remembers Marni. She refuses to give Marni a meaningful apology, and treats her disrespectfully, leaving Marni convinced that Joanna has not changed. Meanwhile, Gail comes to Ramona's hotel room for "closure" about anything bad between them that happened in the past. They appear to make up, but Ramona still seems not to be too fond of Gail.

One day on the street, Will and Marni's grandmother Bunny (Betty White) meet a man named Tim (Kyle Bornheimer). Joanna reveals that they have dated, and Tim appears devastated when he hears that she's marrying Will. Marni decides to bring Tim to the rehearsal dinner as part of her plan to stop the wedding. When it is time for guests to make a toast to the bride and groom, Tim unexpectedly jumps up to give his toast to Joanna. He reveals to a stunned wedding party that Joanna left him at the altar. Later, a video is presented (recovered by Marni) from their old high school time capsule. The video reveals Joanna confessing who she was in high school: an alpha-female bully, with the footage showing proof of her tormenting Marni and other students. As the video is showing her ruining Will's basketball game; Will unplugs the video projector before the video is complete and walks out, furious.

Marni is in trouble when everyone discovers that she was responsible for the video at the rehearsal dinner. Joanna's defense for pretending not to remember Marni is: "I thought we could start over." Marni is now convinced that Joanna hasn't changed, and walks away. Joanna then starts a fight with Marni, who fights back. Will walks in and witnesses the fight. He confronts Joanna, calling her a bully and a liar and then scolds Marni for starting the mess behind his back. Joanna tries to reason with Will but he doesn't care about her past and is furious that she lied to him. He calls off the wedding, much to her devastation.

Ramona and Gail argue after the rehearsal dinner, and Ramona accuses Gail of trying to ruin her life throughout high school. A fight ensues, with both of them falling into the pool. Ramona reveals that she had a grudge with Gail, even when they were best friends, because she always competed with and outdid her, culminating with Gail taking the boy that Ramona wanted to the prom. Ramona stated that Gail was already a legendary head cheerleader and prom queen, and drama was supposed to be hers, yet Gail also defeated her with the auditions. She sarcastically thanks Gail for what she did, because it motivated her to become successful in life. Gail apologizes for being insensitive, but reveals that she is proud of Ramona, and that her loving family is her accomplishment. Ramona, remorseful of her actions, reveals that she was just jealous of Gail's happy family especially that her marriages didn't work out, and feared that Gail was trying to take Joanna away from her. The two are hugging in the pool when Gail's husband, Mark (Victor Garber), shows up. At home, he says that he is disgusted with the wedding and weekend being a disaster and grounds Marni and Gail, despite protest.

Later that night, Marni finds Joanna in the kitchen wearing her wedding dress, crying and binging on junk food. She finally admits to Marni that she feels truly awful for bullying and tormenting her and feels like a terrible person, and that she loves Will and his entire family. She explained that after her parents died, she decided to reinvent herself as someone they could be proud of, and when she found out that Marni was her fiance's sister, she panicked and decided to pretend not to remember her, because she had spent so much time distancing herself from the person she was in high school that she didn't know how to apologize to her. Marni forgives her and promises to get them back together. Marni apologizes to Will for her actions, saying she was only trying to protect him.

Joanna and Will reconcile in the family's old tree house, but it collapses and injures both of them. Marni and Will's little brother, Ben (Billy Unger), loosened the screws as a part of his plan in hiding the tree house because Will was going to move it as a wedding present. They are both forced to stay at a hospital, which delays the wedding. However, Marni puts together a makeshift wedding at the hospital, with the bride and groom bandaged, but properly dressed and able to walk down the aisle. Gail has a surprise for Ramona, it's Richie Phillips (Patrick Duffy), the boy from high school that Ramona wanted to go to the prom with. Richie welcomes Ramona home and wants to be her date for the wedding, which makes Ramona very happy and they appear to start a relationship. Marni appears to start a relationship with Charlie (Sean Wing), her brother's best friend who has always been kind to her. Joanna introduces Marni's grandmother Bunny to an elderly woman, Helen Sullivan (Cloris Leachman). Unfortunately Helen and Bunny were rivals in high school when Helen stole a boy from her. Bunny gets her revenge when she cuts in on Helen's dance and takes her partner.

At the wedding reception, Marni presents her wedding gift to Will and Joanna—Hall & Oates in person performing Will and Joanna's favorite and special song, "Kiss on My List" (as the movie's couples, each share kisses—Will and Joanna, Marni and Charlie, Gail and Mark, Ramona and Richie, and Georgia forces a kiss from Tim). Everyone then joins Hall & Oates on stage.

Cast

Production

You Again was completed on April 3, 2010. The rivalry between the two grandmothers, Betty White and Cloris Leachman, is a reference to the conflict between the two on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Three of cast members from the sitcom Step by Step (Patrick Duffy, Staci Keanan, and Christine Lakin) appeared in the movie in a "mini-reunion".

Critical response

You Again has received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 17% based on reviews from 93 critics. At Metacritic, it received a rating of 28% based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating generally negative reviews.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristen Bell were praised for their roles. The New York Times critic Stephen Holden wrote that "There is not a laugh to be found in this rancid, misogynistic revenge comedy," declaring "Like so many Disney movies, 'You Again' exalts shallow, materialistic values, then tries to camouflage its essentially poisonous content with several layers of sugar coating and weepy reconciliation." Richard Roeper gave the film an F and stated that it was one of the worst movies he'd ever seen. Among the more favorable reviews was Lana Berkowitz of The San Francisco Chronicle, who wrote that she enjoyed the mix of slapstick, musical numbers and surprise cameo appearances. Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic praised the cast for taking "a by-the-numbers comedy" and making it better than it has any right to be.

Box office

The film opened at the box office at No. 5 with $8,407,513 and would go on to gross a domestic total of $25,702,053; with an international gross of $6,303,195, You Again grossed $32,005,248 worldwide; against a $20 million production budget.

Accolades

Home media

The film was released by Touchstone Home Entertainment in a two-disc Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on February 8, 2011. Bonus features include deleted scenes, bloopers, and a question-and-answer (Q&A) feature entitled Ask the Cast.