Wren's Halloween plans go awry when she's made to babysit her brother, who disappears into a sea of trick-or-treaters. Accompanied by her best friend and two nerdy classmates, Wren needs to find her brother before her mom finds out.
**_Fun trick or treat flick marred by eye-rolling “Lib” bits_**
A couple of teen girls in the Cleveland area go out trick-or-treating (Victoria Justice and Jane Levy), but have to take the former’s little brother, who doesn’t talk, because her mother decided to go to a party involving “party animals” in their 20s (Chelsea Handler).
“Fun Size” is a PG-13 Nickelodeon production with bits made for kids, and then for teens, and then adults, and then kids again. While this didn’t bother me, it might concern some parents. I enjoyed the Halloween milieu that focused on trick or treating minus the horror that usually goes with it in movies. In addition, Petite redhead Jane Levy is a highlight as is tall redhead Riki Lindhome as the Galaxy Scout.
The problem is, it was shot in June, 2011, which takes away from the (supposedly) late October ambiance. I can handle that since it’s nothing new (“Halloween,” for instance, was filmed in May). Unfortunately, not only does the viewer have to put up with the teen guy’s sapphic mothers (yes, plural), there’s a scene where the two ex-hippies are making some kind of NObama mural. Get real.
It runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was mostly shot in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, which is just east of Cleveland. Wren’s house interiors were filmed in Lakewood, which is on the other side of the big city while the "Captain Chicken" sequences were done on Euclid Ave in the city.
GRADE: C/C-