46-year-old former high school dropout and self-described "junkie whore" Jerri Blank is released from prison and returns to her childhood home. She discovers her mother has died, her father, Guy, has remarried to the hateful Sara Blank, and she has an arrogant half-brother Derrick. To make matters worse, her father is in a "stress-induced coma". Taking the suggestion of the family doctor literally, Jerri decides to pick her life back up where she left it, beginning her high school all over again as a freshman at Flatpoint High.
Jerri joins Chuck Noblet's science fair team, the Fig Neutrons, along with her new friends, Megawatti Sucarnaputri (a spoof on Megawati Sukarnoputri) and Tammi Littlenut. Noblet is not pleased to learn that Principal Onyx Blackman has hired a ringer for their team, Roger Beekman, to ensure that Flatpoint wins, and so Noblet creates a second team. As she struggles to fit in and make her teammates proud, Jerri discovers that though the faces may have changed, the hassles of high school are just the same.
Sedaris admitted in an interview that they never intended on making a film after the series was cancelled, explaining, "Paul, Steve, and I were working on our book Wigfield ... We kept coming up with funny Jerri Blank stuff to say, so it would go into a file, and by the end of the book, Paul opened the file and there was all this Blank stuff, and he said, 'Oh, it would be so funny to write a movie.' That's really how it happened."[2][3]
Casting
Orlando Pabotoy looked too old to reprise his series role as Orlando Pinatubo. His character was then replaced by the similar Megawatti Sukarnoputri.
Larc Spies did not return for the role of Derrick because, according to Sedaris, "he looks like a longshoreman now." Several other characters were recast because the original actors looked too old to believably play high schoolers. The only original student to return was Thayer as redhead Tammi Littlenut.
Roberto Gari did not reprise the role of Guy, who was instead portrayed by Hedaya, who portrayed Guy's character differently than Gari; on the television show, a 'healthy' Guy is frozen in humorous, almost statuesque states, whereas in the film, Hedaya's Guy is simply unconscious.
Reception
Box office
The film opened in two venues on June 28, 2006, earning $43,141 in its debut and ranking #42 in the North American box office and fifth among the week's new releases.[4] Its widest number of theaters being 109, the film ended its run on September 21, 2006, having grossed $2,072,645 domestically and $181,479 overseas for a worldwide total of $2,254,124.[1]
Critical reception
Strangers with Candy holds a 51% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The site's consensus states: "Occasionally funny, but little more than a jumbled, overextended episode of the TV show. Still, Candy devotees won't be disappointed."[5]Metacritic reports a 57 out of 100 rating based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]
