Strangers With Candy Movie

Strangers With Candy
Rating:
Run Time: 97 min
MPAA Rating: R
Released: 2005
Directors: Paul Dinello
Genre/Type: Comedy
Parody/Spoof
Absurd Comedy
Producers: Mark Roberts
Lorena David
Valerie Schaer Nathanson
Plot Synopsis by Mark Deming
The cult-favorite television series which offered a fun-house version of '70s "after-school specials" returns in this big-screen prequel to the show Strangers With Candy. Middle-aged ex-prostitute, former drug addict and all-around lowlife Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) emerges from prison at the age of 46 ready to start her life over again. Jerri arrives at her parents' home to discover that her father Guy (Dan Hedaya) divorced Jerri's mom and remarried before slipping into a coma. Jerri's stepmom Sara (Deborah Rush) decides to let her stay with the family in the hope her presence might bring Guy around, though she doesn't seem very fond of her new "daughter." Jerri decides to complete the education she abandoned years ago by enrolling at Flatpoint High School, where Principal Blackman (Greg Hollimon) has bigger fish to fry than a middle-aged sex offender as a student. It seems Flatpoint's science scores have been dreadful, and only a first-place entry in the county science fair will maintain the school's accreditation. Science fair guru Roger Beekman (Matthew Broderick) is brought in with hopes of creating a winning project, but science teacher Mr. Noblet (Stephen Colbert) objects to using outside talent and starts a separate team of his own, bringing in Jerri to give her something to do. As it happens, Noblet's team comes up with a potential prize-winner with their Soup Can Superconductor, while Beekman foolishly accepts the help of art teacher Mr. Jellineck (Paul Dinello) and ends up with a dance routine instead of a science presentation. Determined to win out over Noblet's team, Beekman tries to get his hand on the plans for Noblet's project by convincing handsome Brason (Chris Pratt) to charm them away from weak-willed Jerri. Strangers With Candy also features cameo appearances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Allison Janney, Ian Holm, and Kristen Johnston.

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A prequel to the critically acclaimed series featuring Jerri Blank, a 46 year-old ex-junkie, ex-con who returns to high MORE?
Jerri is asked out at a school wrestling game, but the boy later takes back his offer because other... more | add synopsis
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Cast

Actors Character Born
Amy Sedaris Jerri Blank Mar 26, 1961 in New York, NY
Deborah Rush Sara Blank
Carlo Alban Megawatti Sacarnaputri
Maria Thayer Tammi Littlenut
Paul Dinello Geoffrey Jellineck
Stephen Colbert Chuck Noblet
Chris Pratt Brason
Elisabeth Harnois Monica May 15, 1979 in Detroit, MI
Joseph Cross Derrick Blank May 28, 1986 in New Brunswick, NJ
Greg Hollimon Principal Blackman
Dan Hedaya Guy Blank Jul 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY
Matthew Broderick Roger Beekman Mar 21, 1962 in New York City, NY
David Pasquesi Stew
Alexis Dziena Melissa
Ian Holm Dr. Putney Sep 12, 1931 in Goodmayes, Ilford, England
Sarah Jessica Parker Peggy Callas Mar 25, 1965 in Nelsonville, OH
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Back to the topReview

Review by Jason Buchanan
When Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, and Stephen Colbert's grotesquely hilarious Afterschool Special parody went off the air after a memorable three-season run back in 2000, many fans of the fearlessly irreverent Comedy Central series worried that they had seen the last of snaggletoothed, fortysomething ex-junkie prostitute Jerri Blank. Five years later, the self-confessed "boozer, user, and loser" is back, and ready to take on high-school life once again in a feature-film version of the series that essentially starts from scratch to tell just how Flatpoint High's strangest student tried to pick her life up exactly where she left off 32 years ago. Though the big-screen incarnation of the alternately unsettling and hilarious series does manage to successfully capture the off-kilter tone of its small screen counterpart, there's something decidedly restrained about the proceedings that shackles the film from ever reaching the truly manic heights of the product from which it spawned. Seemingly faced with the daunting challenge of delivering the goods to die-hard Concrete Donkey fans while simultaneously converting the uninitiated, writers Sedaris, Dinello, and Colbert skillfully retain many of the best elements of the show by bringing along a majority of the most memorable characters (though sometimes portrayed by different actors) and cleverly recycling a few of the most memorable jokes. Despite an R rating that likely had many fans salivating at the thought of just how far the feature version might be willing to go in upping the ante of the show in which rampant drug use, repulsive genital piercings, and lewd, decidedly un-PC dialogue was fairly standard, the feature film version of Strangers With Candy surprisingly comes off as a somewhat watered-down version of the original series. Of course, that's not to say that longtime fans won't find the film as entertaining as the series -- it's about as consistently funny as the average episode -- just that it doesn't seem particularly interested in breaking any new ground. While some may view this as a drawback considering the time that has passed between the series and the feature, fans who simply wanted to spend a little more time in the hallowed halls of Flatpoint High will likely welcome the opportunity to see Dinello, Colbert, and Sedaris have a blast as they bring their bizarre antics to the big screen.
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