Nancy Drew (2007 film)

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Nancy Drew
Nancy drew.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Andrew Fleming
Written byAndrew Fleming
Tiffany Paulsen
Based on Nancy Drew
by Edward Stratemeyer
Produced by Jerry Weintraub
Starring
Cinematography Alexander Gruszynski
Edited byJeff Freeman
Music by Ralph Sall
Production
companies
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • June 15, 2007 (2007-06-15)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million [1]
Box office$30.7 million [1]

Nancy Drew is a 2007 American mystery comedy film loosely based on the series of mystery novels about the titular teen detective of the same name by Edward Stratemeyer. It stars Emma Roberts as Nancy Drew, with Josh Flitter and Max Thieriot. Directed by Andrew Fleming, the film follows Nancy Drew (Roberts) as she moves to Los Angeles with her father Carson (Tate Donovan) on an extended business trip and stumbles across evidence of an unsolved mystery involving the death of a murdered movie star, prompting Nancy to solve the cold case. It was released in theaters on June 15, 2007, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Critical reactions were mixed, but the film grossed $30 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.

Contents

Plot

Nancy Drew, an amateur sleuth, and her widowed father, Carson Drew, move from their quaint hometown River Heights to California, where Carson has a temporary job. Carson encourages Nancy to focus on living like a normal teenager, instead of getting herself into trouble with crime- and mystery-solving. However, unbeknownst to Carson, Nancy chose their California house because of its famously unsolved mystery of the death of the movie star Dehlia Draycott. Nancy struggles to fit in at her new school, only befriending a younger boy, Corky. She wears 1950s outfits and penny loafers, becoming subject to teasing from Corky's older sister, Inga, and her best friend, Trish. After discovering many clues about the Draycott mystery, she begins secretly sleuthing behind her father's back. Nancy eventually finds Draycott's lost child, Jane Brighton, who turns out to be the sole beneficiary of Draycott's will, which has disappeared. Nancy contacts her father's business associate, Dashiel Biedermeyer, the lawyer for the Draycott estate, to assist her with the case.

Meanwhile, as an early birthday present, Ned Nickerson, Nancy's good friend with implied romantic interest, visits from River Heights. Corky becomes jealous of Nancy and Ned's close relationship and tries his best to get Nancy's attention. Nancy begins experiencing worsening attacks against her as she learns that someone does not want her to solve the case. One afternoon, a tearful Jane arrives on Nancy's doorstep and announces that her daughter has been taken away from her. While watching a Dehlia Draycott film, Nancy realizes that Draycott has hidden her will in a prop from one of her last movies. After retrieving the will, Nancy is kidnapped by the villain's henchmen. Nancy escapes with the will but gets into a car crash. Her father arrives and demands to know what is going on. After explaining her sleuthing, Biedermeyer offers them a ride home so he can finalize the legacy to Jane.

Nancy concludes that Biedermeyer was Dehlia Draycott's supposed love who stands to lose money if the will goes to Jane. However, when he questions Nancy about the will, she manages to jump out of the car. She is caught by Biedermeyer who threatens her; when Nancy asks him why he killed Dehlia, he replies that Dehlia went crazy after she put Jane up for adoption, and wanted to leave to be with her caretaker Leshing. Nancy escapes but is once again cornered. Leshing arrives and knocks the henchmen unconscious as Nancy reveals that she secretly recorded Biedermeyer's confession. While the police arrive to arrest Biedermeyer, Nancy reveals to Leshing that Jane is his daughter. The will is restored to Jane, who is able to get her daughter back and convert the Draycott mansion into a home for single mothers.

Back at River Heights, Nancy visits Ned as he repairs her car and they share a kiss. She receives a long-distance phone call regarding a new mystery in Scotland.

Cast

Several well-known actors make uncredited guest appearances in the film. Bruce Willis appears as himself, shooting a crime film in Los Angeles; Adam Goldberg plays Willis' director Andy; Chris Kattan plays one of the burglars Nancy catches in the opening sequence of the film; Lindsay Sloane plays a saleslady in a clothing boutique; Eddie Jemison appears as an adoption clerk; and Geraint Wyn Davies makes a brief appearance as a drama teacher. Ami and Yumi from Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi also makes a brief appearance as the show plays on the TV.

Production

The film was shot in Los Angeles from January 30, 2006, to April 3, 2006. [2] At that time, Emma Roberts did not have her driver's license. Though she was in possession of a permit, by law she was unable to drive the roadster for the car chase scenes all by herself. The movie was filmed in several California cities, including South Pasadena, Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, Long Beach, La Canada Flintridge and Burbank. [3]

Before Roberts was cast, actress Amanda Bynes was considered to portray Nancy, but her schedule prevented her from taking the role.[ citation needed ] Skye Sweetnam also auditioned for the role. [4]

Nancy's car in the film is a blue Nash Metropolitan convertible. [5]

Home media

Nancy Drew was released on DVD on March 11, 2008.

United States TV rights

U.S. cable networks, such as ABC Family and the Disney Channel, acquired the rights to the 2007 film version of Nancy Drew.

Reception

Box office

Opening at #7 in the U.S. box office, the film grossed $6,832,318 on its opening weekend and has since grossed $25,612,520 in the US and $5,054,410 internationally for a total of $30,666,930 worldwide. [6]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 49% from 138 critics, with the site's consensuses reading, "Emma Roberts is bubbly and charming as Nancy Drew, the junior detective. But despite her best efforts, Nancy Drew still lacks excitement, surprise, and compelling secondary characters." [7] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [9]

Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The culture-clash procedural, which brings the small-town teen to big bad Hollywood, feels more perfunctory than inspired." [10] Lael Loewenstein of Variety magazine, said the film "serves up stale mystery-movie cliches and overcooked red herrings in a thoroughly wooden adaptation" and "the cast is as stiff as the dialogue". [11]

Plugged In said that "the film has all of the oversimplifications of a teen mystery novel with a little—but not enough—humorous self-awareness tossed in to make the story satisfying for adults". [12]

Book adaptations

A novelization of the movie was written by Daniela Burr the year of the film's release and published by Simon Spotlight. [13] Plus, books in the Nancy Drew, Girl Detective and Nancy Drew Clue Crew series both had movie-themed books.

Soundtrack

  1. "Come to California" (Matthew Sweet)
  2. "Perfect Misfit" (Liz Phair)
  3. "Kids in America" (The Donnas)
  4. "Pretty Much Amazing" (Joanna)
  5. "Looking for Clues" (Katie Melua)
  6. "Hey Nancy Drew" (Price)
  7. "Like a Star" (Corinne Bailey Rae)
  8. "Nice Day" (Persephone's Bees)
  9. "Blue Monday" (Flunk)
  10. "We Came to Party" (J-Kwon)
  11. "All I Need" (Cupid)
  12. "Party Tonight" (Bizarre)
  13. "When Did Your Heart Go Missing?" (Rooney)
  14. "DARE" (Gorillaz featuring Shaun Ryder)

Awards

Nominated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Drew</span> Fictional character in a juvenile mystery series

Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by the publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels.

<i>The Clue in the Diary</i> Nancy Drew 7, published 1932

The Clue in the Diary is the seventh volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, and was first published in 1932 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Its text was revised in 1962.

<i>Nancys Mysterious Letter</i> Nancy Drew 8, published 1932

Nancy's Mysterious Letter is the eighth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1932 and was penned by Walter Karig, a replacement writer for Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson declined series work when the Depression forced a reduction in the contract fee provided to Stratemeyer Syndicate writers, so Karig, already an established Stratemeyer writer, took over the authorship. Due to Karig having died in 1956, the 1932 version passed into the public domain in Canada and other countries that have a life plus 50 policy, in 2007.

<i>The Password to Larkspur Lane</i> Nancy Drew 10, published 1933

The Password to Larkspur Lane is the tenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1933 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Walter Karig in his third and final Nancy Drew novel and his final appearance for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Due to Karig's death in 1956, this book and his other two Nancy Drews, as of January 1, 2007, have passed into the public domain in Canada and other countries with a life-plus-50 policy.

<i>Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock</i> 2005 video game

Secret of the Old Clock is the 12th installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. The game is available for play on Microsoft Windows platforms. It has an ESRB rating of E for moments of mild violence and peril. Players take on the first-person view of fictional amateur sleuth Nancy Drew and must solve the mystery through interrogation of suspects, solving puzzles, and discovering clues. There are two levels of gameplay, Junior and Senior detective modes, each offering a different difficulty level of puzzles and hints, however neither of these changes affect the actual plot of the game. The game was created to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Nancy Drew's creation. It is based on the first four Nancy Drew books published: The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, The Bungalow Mystery, and The Mystery at Lilac Inn.

<i>Nancy Drew: Girl Detective</i> Book series

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective is a 2004–2012 book series which replaced the long-running Nancy Drew mystery series. This new series is written in first person narration, from Nancy's point of view, and features updated versions of the main Nancy Drew characters. New secondary characters are introduced to populate River Heights and appear over multiple books, adding a framework to Nancy's world.

<i>The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries</i> American television series

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries is an American television mystery series based on the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew juvenile novels. The series, which ran from January 30, 1977, to January 14, 1979, was produced by Glen A. Larson from Universal Television for ABC. Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy starred as amateur detective brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, respectively, while Pamela Sue Martin starred as amateur sleuth Nancy Drew.

<i>The Clue in the Old Album</i> Nancy Drew 24, published 1947

The Clue in the Old Album is the twenty-fourth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1947 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene.

<i>Mystery of the Glowing Eye</i> 1974 novel by Carolyn Keene

Mystery of the Glowing Eye is the fifty-first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1974 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

Ned Nickerson is a fictional character in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series written under the collective pseudonym "Carolyn Keene". Ned is often referred to as Nancy Drew's boyfriend. He first appears in The Clue in the Diary, the seventh volume in the series.

Georgia "George" Fayne is a character in the popular Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. She is one of Nancy's best friends and cousin of Bess Marvin. Her birth name is Georgia, although no one calls her that except her parents.

<i>The Nancy Drew Files</i> Fiction series by Simon & Schuster

The Nancy Drew Files, or the Nancy Drew Case Files, is a detective fiction series started in 1986 and released by Simon & Schuster, New York. It is a spin-off of the original series of novels featuring Nancy Drew, with a greater emphasis on adventure, malice and romance. All the books have been written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. This series has been targeted at readers who are age eleven and up. With a new book released almost every month, 124 titles were released in 11 years. More than 17 million copies are in print and the books have appeared on the bestseller lists of Publishers Weekly, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks. In 2014, Simon & Schuster started releasing this series in eBook format.

Nancy Drew on Campus is a series of twenty-five books published as a young adult spin-off from the long-running Nancy Drew mystery series. The series was published between 1995 and 1998 by Simon & Schuster's Young Adult imprint Simon Pulse and followed Nancy and her friends as they attended college and dealt with issues such as date rape and drug usage.

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is a 1939 American mystery film directed by William Clemens and written by Kenneth Garnet. It is the fourth and final film in the original Nancy Drew film series and a sequel to Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939). The film stars Bonita Granville as teenage amateur detective Nancy Drew, Frankie Thomas as her boyfriend, and John Litel as her father. It was loosely based on the novel of the same name by Mildred Wirt Benson. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 9, 1939.

<i>Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes</i> 2011 video game

Alibi in Ashes is the 25th installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. The game is available for play on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. It has an ESRB rating of E for moments of mild violence and peril. Players take on the first-person view of fictional amateur sleuth Nancy Drew and must solve the mystery through interrogation of suspects, solving puzzles, and discovering clues. There are two levels of gameplay, Junior and Senior detective modes, each offering a different difficulty level of puzzles and hints, however neither of these changes affects the plot of the game. The game is loosely based on the books False Impressions (1990) and The Clues Challenge (2000).

<i>Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy</i> 2013 video game

The Silent Spy is the 29th installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. It runs Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms and has an ESRB rating of E for moments of mild violence and peril.

Nancy Drew is a 2002 American television film directed by James Frawley and written by Ami Canaan Mann. It stars Maggie Lawson as teen sleuth Nancy Drew, who heads off to college and finds yet another mystery to solve. The film first aired on December 15, 2002, on ABC.

<i>Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase</i> (2019 film) 2019 American teen mystery comedy film

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is a 2019 American teen mystery comedy film, based on the book The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene. It was directed by Katt Shea, with a screenplay by Nina Fiore and John Herrera, and served as a reboot of the Nancy Drew film series. The movie, produced by A Very Good Production and Red 56 and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, stars Sophia Lillis in the role of amateur detective Nancy Drew, as she investigates a haunted house. It also stars Zoe Renee, Mackenzie Graham, Laura Slade Wiggins, Sam Trammell, and Linda Lavin in supporting roles. The same book had been adapted for a film of the same title in 1939.

<i>Confessions of a Teen Sleuth</i> Book by Chelsea Cain

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody is a 2005 parody novel by American writer Chelsea Cain. The book is a parody of the Nancy Drew mystery series published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene and created by Edward Stratemeyer. The novel purports to be the true story of Nancy Drew, who claims that Keene was a former college roommate who plagiarized her life story while also misrepresenting Drew in the process. It incorporates characters from the mystery series while also including or mentioning characters from other series such as The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, and Encyclopedia Brown.

References

  1. 1 2 "Nancy Drew (2007) – Financial Information". The Numbers.
  2. "WebVoyage Titles".
  3. "Filming locations for Nancy Drew (2007)". IMDb . Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  4. Sweetnam, Skye. "Reminds me of when I auditioned for #NancyDrew but I went to the audition w too much cleavage #Fail #WhoareweKidding". Twitter.com. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  5. "Nancy's Car is for Sale! (And Weekend Puzzle #300!)". Her Interactive. March 11, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  6. "Nancy Drew" . Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  7. "Nancy Drew". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  8. "Nancy Drew". Metacritic . Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  9. Joshua Rich Updated June 18, 2007. "Fantastic Four debuts at No. 1". Entertainment Weekly . Nancy Drew (No. 7) drew a nice A- CinemaScore from an audience that was, not surprisingly, 77 percent female.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. "Nancy Drew". The Hollywood Reporter . 10 June 2007.
  11. Loewenstein, Lael (8 June 2007). "Nancy Drew". Variety .
  12. "Nancy Drew". Plugged In (publication) . Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  13. Burr, Daniela (2007). Nancy Drew Movie Novelization . Simon and Schuster. pp.  128. ISBN   978-1416938996.