Starring: Victoria Justice, Jane Levy, Thomas McDonnell, Chelsea Handler, Thomas Mann, Osric Chau, and Jackson Nicoll
More often than not, Halloween means bad horror movies for Hollywood. Every once in a while though, we get a Halloween comedy, and I do mean every once in a while. Until this weekend, it had been 17 years since the last comedy themed around the nightmarish holiday. With this in mind, this weekend's Fun Size may just be the only Halloween comedy of our generation. If this is the best Hollywood's got, that's a sad reality.
Wren (Victoria Justice) and April (Jane Levy) see that Halloween is upon them and are getting ready to break out there costumes. There's just one problem. While April plans to dress as a sexy kitty, Wren plans to dress as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This isn't exactly the hottest Halloween costume on the market, and it certainly won't help her get noticed by popular guy Aaron Riley (Thomas McDonnell) on whom she has a crush. Bending over right in front of him doing a crazy dance does, however. When Aaron takes notice of Wren dancing in the street, he invites her and April to his Halloween party.
The two girls begin getting ready for what they deem the biggest night of their lives. Wren ditches the Ginsburg costume and opts for something a little more appealing, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. There's just one problem, her recently widowed mother Joy (Chelsea Handler) decides to go out to a party with her 26-year-old boy toy Kevin (Josh Pence). That means that Wren has to take her little brother Albert (Jackson Nicoll) trick-or-treating instead of going to Aaron Riley's party. Later that night, things go awry when Wren and April lose Albert. Instead of partying or trick-or-treating, they're now endlessly searching Cleveland for a little dude dressed as Spider-Man.
Fun Size is a film that falls flat in the humor department. Victoria Justice and Jane Levy just don't bring the laughs. For her part, Justice plays it straight. To help her out and to make Wren a more entertaining character, director Josh Schwartz could have infused the film with more slapstick humor. As her best friend April, Jane Levy is a little too snarky. When playing the urbanite Tessa trapped in a suburban hell in Suburgatory, this brand of humor works just fine. It doesn't work so well in a kids' comedy.
The supporting cast could have been utilized more to bring some more humor to the forefront in Fun Size. In a very minor role, Chelsea Handler delivers a couple of good laughs. If Schwartz would have unleashed her on camera a little more, we could have had some real comedy. The other missed opportunity is Jackson Nicoll's portrayal of Wren's little brother Albert. A prankster kid who doesn't talk on the loose Halloween night is rife with comedic gold. The possibilities have hilarious implications. Instead of thinking "Go Spidey! Go!" on Albert's wild little adventure, I was more often than not left thinking "No, Spidey. No".
Fun Size is a pretty boring Halloween flick that never finds its funny bone. You definitely need a few cocktails for this one. I would recommend some Long Island Ice Teas. Fun Size gets a 0.09% rating.
