FUN SIZE (Josh Schwartz). 90 minutes. Opens Friday (October 26). See listing. Rating: N
Don’t be tricked by the title. Fun Size is not a Halloween treat. The inane teen comedy is just a way for Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice to lure her tween fans to fork over their allowance.
Justice stars as Wren, the planet’s most attractive nerd, who’s stuck taking her kid brother (Jackson Nicoll) trick-or-treating when she could instead be making an impression at a big Halloween house party hosted by her school’s cool heartthrob.
The brother goes missing, Wren gathers more nerds to find him, and this particular Halloween night becomes a dim-witted John Hughes mockery that caters to an audience who will be texting throughout.
Filled with strained versions of gags we’ve seen before and clueless characters that are completely out of touch with today’s teens, Max Werner’s screenplay is a slapdash effort. It resembles a rushed school assignment submitted by a procrastinating teen who’s been too busy playing video games to care about what ends up on paper.
There are actually a few standouts among the supporting cast, like the young, adorable Nicoll and Jane Levy as Wren’s best friend. Unfortunately, their talents barely register in a movie where the attempts to be fun are as desperate as a dork trying to act cool.
