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Kristen Bell Continues to Stretch as an Actress

Lesbian Romance Still a Pipe Dream / Dustin Rowles

Trade News | April 14, 2009 | Comments (23)

It’s good to see that Kristen Bell, since “Veronica Mars” ended its run (relive that pain, folks), has been really diversifying her roles, deftly showing her range. Last year, she starred in the romantic comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In August, she stars in the romantic comedy When in Rome, and she recently finished filming a romantic-comedy with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, Couples Retreat.

Up next? A romantic comedy. Apparently, Bell is chasing that Meg Ryan dream. Of course, we all know how that ended — Meg Ryan became the third blowfish.

Bell will star in You Again, which sounds as lightweight and frothy as the other romantic comedies she’s starring in, although lacking in any of that modest subversiveness that made Sarah Marshall so winning. In You Again, Bell finds out her brother is marrying the girl who made her high-school years miserable. She then sets out to show her brother his fiancee’s true colors.

There are two possible endings to that scenario. If it’s the bad formulaic movie I expect, Bell will realize that the fiancee isn’t so bad, and they’ll become BFFs by the end of the flick. However, if it’s a better film than we could possibly hope for, Bell will sabotage her brother’s engagement by hooking up with his fiancee. A lot. On bearskin rugs. And in the backseat of Volkswagons.

Andy Fickman, who directed The Game Plan, The Race to Witch Mountain, She’s the Man and Who’s Your Daddy, is attached to direct You Again, so you can pretty much guarantee the Kristen Bell lesbian version is fairly unlikely.


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Comments

Bell will sabotage her brother’s engagement by hooking up with his fiancee.
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Doesn't sound like sabotage to me. Sounds like they're gonna need a bigger bed.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at April 14, 2009 9:06 PM

So, this one time I had a girl who looked exactly like Kristen Bell (wasn't just me who thought that, she'd apparently been stopped by strangers and informed of the resemblance) totally come on to me when she was drunk. Unfortunately for her (and for the imaginations of male Pajibans) I'm exceptionally straight.

Anyway, my point relevant to the post is that I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to know that it's incredibly likely that the best role you'll ever have came at the beginning of your career. I mean, I hope she's having fun and making a decent living but I wonder if she ever watches the VM DVDs while eat ice cream and pouting that no parts that fun or interesting come her way anymore.

Posted by: Genny (also Rusty) at April 14, 2009 9:10 PM

Maybe they'll go the southern conservative route and she'll marry the brother.


Don't see what the big deal is with this trick, she's the poor man's SMG.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at April 14, 2009 9:12 PM

Genny, I so agree with you.

This just serves to make me sad all over again that it's increasingly unlikely that the VMars movie will ever happen.

Also, I find myself vaguely disturbed that you used the term BFFs, Dustin.

Posted by: lizzieborden at April 14, 2009 9:14 PM

I know no one saw Roman. I get it. Lucky McKee isn't liked enough by Hollywood to actually get a real theatrical release. However, anyone who saw Roman would realize that Bell is trying to diversify her acting repertoire. It's typecasting as the really cute girl that's screwing her over.

Also, I'm not seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall as a typical romantic comedy. The structure is there, but the content and characters are so far removed from tradition that it becomes a different beast.

Posted by: Robert at April 14, 2009 9:48 PM

If she hooks up with the fiancee in the backseat of the Volkswagen...who exactly is taking it, um, in "the backseat"?

Your answer will change my opinion of the film.

Posted by: JakesAlterEgo at April 14, 2009 10:39 PM

@Robert

It's Spartan, not Roman. Please show the third-best David Mamet movie some respect.

Posted by: JakesAlterEgo at April 14, 2009 10:41 PM

About VM, if Kristen Bell bemoans no other parts being as good as that, then that's hilarious. She had no true appreciation for it while she was doing it, no matter what she says now. She thought she was overworked and underpaid and she couldn't wait until it was canceled so she could go for the big screen. Now she's right where she deserves to be, stuck doing formulaic rom-coms until she's too old to even do those.

Posted by: bb at April 14, 2009 11:41 PM

Whatever. She's pretty and she can sing.

Posted by: Lucas at April 15, 2009 12:05 AM

AJakesAlterEgo:" It's Spartan, not Roman. Please show the third-best David Mamet movie some respect."

You're right, David Mamet directed Spartan, co-starring Kristen Bell, but Lucky McKee wrote Roman. co-starring Kristen Bell.

Posted by: Jefferson at April 15, 2009 1:36 AM

wouldn't a lesbian experience with Kristen Bell be a non pipe dream?

Posted by: Rubble44 at April 15, 2009 1:44 AM

@Robert

Then all we can hope for is Kristen Bell's co-starring role in the upcoming Babylonians.

@Rubble

There are things she can buy and wear to change that. Yes, I just pictured her wearing it, and yes, it was oddly awesome.

Posted by: JakesAlterEgo at April 15, 2009 2:35 AM

Oh, now, I think it's a little early to say she's trying to be the next Meg Ryan. Let's not forget that, since Veronica Mars, she's also been a recurring character in Heroes, she's been the narrator of Gossip Girl and she's been in that Fanboys movie. And Forgetting Sarah Marshall is most definitely not your typical romantic comedy. So I wouldn't say she HASN'T been diversifying her roles.

Posted by: Thijs at April 15, 2009 4:44 AM

"she's also been a recurring character in Heroes, she's been the narrator of Gossip Girl..."


*eyeroll*

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at April 15, 2009 6:58 AM

I thought Meg Ryan went on to become the backup Hootie?

Posted by: admin at April 15, 2009 7:51 AM

@Lucas

She can sing? How is it I'm not aware of this and where is the evidence?

Posted by: UnlessTheMoonFalls at April 15, 2009 10:48 AM

Thijs, I thought Bell was great in Heroes, but I can understand if she wanted out. The season was going nowhere and she would have been wasted in it.

As for comparing Bell to Meg Ryan, I prefer Bell, at least in comedy. Meg Ryan was decent, but she needed a stronger actor to work off of (Billy Crystal, Kevin Kline, Tom Hanks, etc); I never thought she could carry a comedy on her own. Drama, yes.

Kristen is perky enough, but definitely has the depth to carry a drama as well.

Posted by: Brie at April 15, 2009 10:59 AM

She can sing? How is it I'm not aware of this and where is the evidence?

Oh, there was an episode of VM where she did karoke. She sang 'One Way Or Another' and did a pretty damn good job.

Posted by: Jeni at April 15, 2009 12:10 PM

saw a picture of meg ryan not too long ago. poor thing, she must have suffered some sort of allergic reaction.

Posted by: jimmy at April 15, 2009 12:11 PM

I like Kristen Bell in pretty much anything, but Roman was awful. A little funny-bad, but not really worth the 3 bucks to rent it. Like Spartan, she's just not in it enough to quench the Veronica bug.

She was trained at some hoity-toity school for stage and musical performance. She sings live sometimes, and is featured singing in the passable Reefer Madness. I think she's done a Broadway show or two, playing Becky Thatcher in Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Posted by: Jackseppelin at April 15, 2009 12:20 PM

If you want to see K. Bell sing, you should check out the bizarre musical remake of "Reefer Madness." I've loved her since VM, but I think that movie showcased her in a way that nothing else has.

She is crazy talented but Hollywood has a way of taking promising actresses and turning them into blow up dolls. I think she's more a victim of what's made available to her than anything else. New agent, stat!

Possible exception to blow my theory: KB passed up the role of Charlotte on Lost to be on Heroes instead. Talk about your bad decisions...

Posted by: Clarence Boddicker at April 15, 2009 1:45 PM

She gets a point for VM and a point for Deadwood. She loses a point for doing Gossip Girl. She neither wins nor loses for doing Heroes. One point for doing RM. However, she loses a point for her attitude during her VM days. She gets a point for doing FSM. However, she loses one for all the idiotic romcoms.

So. She is the new Eliza Dushku. Which would've seemed like a compliment a few years ago, but now just means she was good in one role and seems to have a slight sense of entitlement.

Dunno. Maybe it's just me but it seems like "relatively nice girl with a streak of bitch" is mostly what she plays. I don't think she's all that versatile, and I've seen cuter girls.

Posted by: Sara at April 16, 2009 1:09 AM

Oh yeah: she can't sing. She's passable. I don't know why seemingly well-liked actors with passable voices are always deemed good singers. (This happened with the cast of Buffy when they had that musical.) A not-bad voice is not automatically a good voice.

Posted by: Sara at April 16, 2009 1:13 AM