Falling for seamy side of 'Strangers'

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On paper, "Strangers with Candy" should never have made it all the way to the big screen.

The former Comedy Central series has no big stars and spoofs a near-forgotten genre: the treacly after-school special, that went the way of leg warmers. And let's not forget that the series scattered just 30 episodes over three short seasons.

But cult followings are hard to shake, a key reason why "Candy" earned its big screen engagement.

The results are akin to an absurdly funny hourlong special -- with a stale 25 minutes tacked on to justify the ticket price.

Star/co-creator Amy Sedaris returns as Jerri Blank, the burned out ex-con who decides to go back to high school in the hopes of starting a new life for herself.

You'd think a 46-year-old would stick out in the classroom, but it's part of "Candy's" nutty logic that no one bats an eye at her crow's feet and silver-streaked hair.

The movie version is a prequel, of sorts, telling us why Jerri enrolled in school in the first -- or rather second -- place.

Fresh from prison, she learns her father (Dan Hedaya) has fallen into a stress-induced coma and his doctor (Ian Holm) suggests some good news from Jerri might snap him out of it.

Since her life took the first of many wrong turns during her teen years, she decides to re-enroll in high school to make things right -- and, hopefully, coax her father to face life again.

Yet Jerri's almost alma mater is embroiled in its own troubles, including a funding scandal that's driving principal Blackman (Greg Hollimon) to drink in the school's wet lounge.