When I was 12, I stood in line for 8 hours at the Prudential Center in Boston to meet Candace Cameron. She was just so cool. The only thing I wanted more than to be best friends with DJ was to be DJ. I’ve seen every episode more times than I can count, can quote half the shows, and may or may not still watch the reruns. I owned the Mary Kate & Ashley purse line, rooted for Jodi Sweetin’s recovery when she admitted she was doing drugs, and have tracked all of their careers over the years.
Suffice to say, I was (and am) a big fan.
Unfortunately, my fandom is what made me watch tonight’s unauthorized movie on Lifetime and boy, was I disappointed. I’ll refrain from declaring the acting subpar because I was, of course, comparing them to the originals, but it certainly didn’t blow me away. I’m sure all the actors are great in their own right, but it’s a little disconcerting to see them playing such iconic (yes, iconic) characters. Fake Aunt Becky lacked the unassuming poise and sophistication of Lori Laughlin, Uncle Jesse was just off, and teenage DJ was nothing at all like real DJ. To the casting director’s credit, fake Kimmy’s was very Kimmy-like (and reminded me of the girl from 13 Going on 30), fake Danny did actually sound like Bob Saget, and fake Joey was pretty decent, so not all was lost.
What bugged me was the simple stuff, like the fact that the set was completely off. Here are some examples of what I mean by this:
- The set was backwards
- The kitchen was different – the fabulous kitchen and its island were replaced with a drab, white kitchen.
- The front door was see-through, not frosted
And then came the kicker. I admit, I teared up when fake Steve surprised fake DJ for the prom in the fake finale, but the dresses were way off. Fake DJ had on a black dress, while the real one was gold. Fake Kimmy’s was purple, while the real one was pink and black (with flashing lights!). For some reason this really, really bugged me because it was such a simple thing to fix. Sadly, it left me wondering how much effort actually went into the making of the movie.
I’m sure the storylines were all true – we all know Bob Saget has a potty mouth – but it was his story that stole the show in terms of behind the scenes scoops (although I did love the subtle reference to that amazing movie No One Would Tell). But overall, there wasn’t any new information that warranted a movie about the show. Then again, maybe the movie didn’t teach me anything new because I’ve always been such a big fan. Either way, if you’re a fan of the show, you might want to skip the movie (but you’ll probably watch it anyway).
In the meantime, I’m going to run out and pick up Bob Saget’s autobiography, now.
