The 4:30 Movie Is Kevin Smith’s Sweetest, Most Accessible Movie in Years: Review

The post The 4:30 Movie Is Kevin Smith’s Sweetest, Most Accessible Movie in Years: Review appeared first on Consequence .

The Pitch: It’s the summer of 1986, and Brian David (Austin Zajur, who might bear a passing resemblance to a young Kevin Smith ) and his two friends have only one thing planned for the day: Sneaking into R-rated movies at their local cineplex. Things are looking up for Brian David when he successfully asks his dream girl (Siena Agudong) to join him for the 4:30 movie that day. But when the boys manage to get kicked out of the theater, it’ll take a whole bunch of 80s-movie-style hijinks for Brian David to… well, maybe he’ll miss the movie. But he might still get the girl.

A New Jersey John Hughes: Calling The 4:30 Movie one of writer/director Kevin Smith’s most personal works yet feels a little disingenuous, since from the beginning, Smith’s films have almost always been intentional or unintentional reflections on his own life. (As just the most recent example, Clerks III was about his own heart attack .)

Yet this small-in-scope slice of nostalgia, John Hughes through Smith’s own View Askew lens, owns its meta nature with pride. This especially comes through in the ways it’s unafraid to wink directly at the future awaiting “Brian David,” even if he’s only just now getting up the courage to admit that making movies is what he wants to do with his life. Hughes has always been one of Smith’s key influences, and here he really lets that energy fly — telling the story of a supposedly ordinary day that becomes life-changing by the end.

Appropriate to those Hughes fives, there’s a real gentleness to Smith’s direction here, even when his characters fight with each other or fight The Man — The Man, in this case, being Ken Jeong’s bitter and ambitious theater manager, which isn’t exactly an example of Jeong disappearing into a character. That said, he does find some fresh angles on the trope, and every teen comedy needs someone to rebel against.

Of Course Smith’s Friends Show Up: If the core story of The 4:30 Movie hadn’t worked, we’d at least have the movie parodies scattered across the runtime, including a Flash Gordon riff and a nunsploitation flick. (The latter stars Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith and Jason Mewes as one of her victims — given that Mewes has been friends with her father for longer than Harley Quinn has been alive, that must have been a very strange day on set.)

These parodies represent some very funny riffs on classic ’80s films, but that’s not the only place famous faces show up. There are also some strange one-off character bits, like Justin Long playing a particularly grotesque movie theater patron or Adam Pally as a surly Goth ticket taker. (Weirdly, Goth looks good on the Happy Endings star.)

The 4:30 Movie (Saban Films)

Kids Today: As for the core cast, the three teens at the heart of the story aren’t your typical movie friend group; there’s an awkwardness to their connection that speaks to the kinds of friendships born in high school amongst the kids who don’t quite fit in. These aren’t the friends who will necessarily be with you for the rest of your life; they’re the allies who help make sure you survive adolescence, before you find your real tribe.

The 4:30 Movie isn’t set on a particularly important day for anyone except Brian David — his friends are all on their own journeys, but their stories aren’t given equal heft. Still, the performances from the young cast, especially Austin Zajur, Nicholas Cirillo, Reed Northrup, and Siena Agudong, feel natural and fresh, and the group’s chemistry feels believable from beginning to end.

The Verdict: While clearly made on a low-budget level, every detail about The 4:30 Movie , from the way Brian David heats up a donut to the T-shirts the kids wear, feels authentic and lived-in. And on a strictly aesthetic level, this might be one of Smith’s best-looking movies to date, as cinematographer Yaron Levy ( Blood Drive ) paints the frame with a golden glow.

The biggest complaint to be made about many of Smith’s recent films is that they’re not exactly made for a wide audience; he’s instead focused on pleasing his devoted fanbase. Yet the Hughes-ian nature of The 4:30 Movie , and its comparatively minimal in-jokes for the audience, make this a movie that could be enjoyed by viewers who didn’t even know that there was a third Clerks film. Or who maybe haven’t even seen the first Clerks (gasp!). At its core, it’s simply a sweet personal story — made by a guy who, as we see here, started off wanting to do exactly that.

Where to Watch: In a truly meta touch, The 4:30 Movie will play in theaters beginning Friday, September 13th.

Trailer:

The 4:30 Movie Is Kevin Smith’s Sweetest, Most Accessible Movie in Years: Review
Liz Shannon Miller