Written & Directed by Kevin Smith
Starring Austin Zajur, Nicholas Cirillo, Reed Northrup, Siena Agudong, & Ken Jeong
With Jason Lee, Kate Micucci, Genesis Rodriguez, Diedrich Bader, Rachel Dratch, Sam Richardson, Adam Pally, Harley Quinn Smith, Method Man, Betty Aberlin, Logic, Evelyn Giovine, Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, & Jason Biggs
Release Date: September 13, 2024
Running Time: 1hr 28min
Rating: R
In the summer of 1986, 16 year old film enthusiast, Brian David (Zajur), gets the courage to ask out girl of his dreams, Melody Barnegat (Agudong), to a 4:30 showing of a new movie. Standing in way is the fact that it’s R rated, so they’ll have to sneak past the tyrannical manager of the movie theater (Jeong). Tension also arise between Brian and his best friends, Burny (Cirillo) and Belly (Northrup), who aren’t too keen on him bringing a girl along. Teen shenanigans, romance, and theater hopping ensue.
I’m a lifelong fan of Kevin Smith, so if he’s got something new out I’ll wanna check it out. His career has a few misfires (you’ll have those in a 30 year career), I don’t think this movie is one of them. This was a movie made for me! I’m also a sucker for nostalgia, especially 1980s nostalgia. Growing up in the late 90s to early 00s, I frequented my local cinemas on a regular basis. I never did any theater hopping like the main characters (or Smith), and I never got the courage to ask out my high school crush to a movie, but I certainly dreamed of it!
The movie doesn’t have the usual colorful language you expect from Smith (despite the R rating), but it has the pop culture dialogue you know and love! The young cast are terrific, from the opening the chemistry between Zajur and Agudong is solid, plus his scenes with Cirillo and Northrup give off the believable vibe of longtime friends. The supporting cast consists of familiar faces and Smith regulars which I always enjoy seeing.
The fake movies and trailers are also a lot fun and I wish they were real, especially the exploitation film Sister Sugar Walls, about a nun (Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn) going under cover as a hooker to fight crime. [Fun Fact: one of the fake movies playing is called Dental School, a title first referenced in Smith’s debut film, Clerks (1994).] So yeah, give this one a watch!
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