Signis

Nancy Drew

(JPEG) (US, 2007, d. Andrew Flemyng) Nancy Drew, like her male counterparts, The Hardy Boys, comes from the 1930s when a series of small budget films were made with Bonita Granville. Now she is updated to 2007 with a contemporary look but a plot that would have been at home seventy years ago.

Nancy Drew is a teenage sleuth. As portrayed by Emma Roberts, she is good at her hobby and has the marked assurance of the professional. We see her in action at once as she confronts some thieves, helping them to give themselves up and to seek psychological counselling - she is that kind of precocious girl. She does not fall from the guttering of the local church because she has her sleuthing kit with her, which contains rope for descending buildings. Police, press, friends acclaim her, though her father (Tate Donovan) has his reservations.

When they visit California, Nancy promises her father not to sleuthe. Of course, she does. She has accepted rental of a house where a famous and glamorous movie star lived, disappeared and was murdered. This teenage Miss Marple (including her older style fashion and primness of manner) discovers the clues and the star’s daughter (Rachel Leigh Cook), exposes the murderer (who will not be a surprise) and even sets a fashion trend in trendy LA.

Old-fashioned story in new-fangled clothes - for teenage girls and their mothers (and long-suffering fathers and brothers).

Peter Malone