Craving a Small but Tasty Treat This Season?

I know you are all waiting for the return of the Man of Steel next Wednesday. Having seen the small little production already, I can almost guarantee that the wait will be well worth it, as the return of Superman is a crowd-pleaser that will appeal to the wide-eyed child within everyone on this planet.

So – tee hee – buck up, and wait just a few more days.

I ask you to wait because that is what you’ll have to do if you want to watch Strangers with Candy, a prequel to the critically acclaimed Comedy Central 1999-2000 series that opens in New York on the same day as Superman Returns.

For this reason alone you so need to check it out. Amy Sedaris, the series and movie’s co-creator and star, is not only one heck of a funny lady (as evidenced by her appearance on last night’s Late Show with David Letterman) – she is also a brave one.

The movie follows the story of Jerri Blank, a 46 year-old ex-junkie and ex-con who emerges from her long prison stay with a special goodbye prison riot with her cellmates and returns to high school in a bid to start her life over, only to confront the most dangerous gang of all – the cool kids.

After a long bus ride, Jerri arrives at her childhood home to find that her father is now in a coma and has re-married and fathered a child. Although mortified by her stepdaughter's return, his new wife begrudgingly allows Jerri to move in when the family doctor suggests that her presence might bring her father out of his 32-year coma.

Hilarity ensues.

Strangers with Candy co-creators Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello also appear, while Sarah Jessica Parker, Justin Theroux (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle), Matthew Broderick, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ian Holm, and Allison Janney cameo.

Photo: ThinkFilm.