Written by Cameron Geiser

Kevin Smith’s latest film is an autobiographical teen comedy about growing up while obsessed with movies. The 4:30 Movie takes place in the early to mid 1980s New Jersey within a flurry of nostalgic callbacks to Summers before the internet, social media, and nationwide cynicism took over our lives. The film opens with Brian David (Austin Zajur), our Kevin Smith approximation, takes a chance and calls up Melody Barnegat (Siena Agudong) and asks her out to the Movies with friends. After some light exposition, she accepts and Brian David is off to gather friends and hangout at the Movie theater all day so they can sneak into the coveted R-rated flick with Melody after she gets off work.

So Brian David gathers his friends, Burny (Nicholas Cirillo) and Belly (Reed Northrup), and after some convincing they all head to the theater to kill time and be absorbed in Cinema. There’s some decent teenage drama between the friends and the antagonist, Movie Theater Manager Mike (Ken Jeong). Which, by the way, as a Movie Theater Manager myself- pretty funny. Other than that the most entertaining parts of the film were in the world building and charming rose colored glasses for everything 1980’s. Though none of it would have worked if the four principal characters weren’t so damn likable. It’s an easy breezy coming-of-age story about teens in love with movies, but also that carefree positive spirit that so often accompanies these sorts of stories. I’m a bit of a sucker for movies about movies, but I do also enjoy Kevin Smith’s work more broadly- and I know that doesn’t always work for the average moviegoer, but I really think this film is his best mainstream, and most generally appealing, film in years. Even though I personally enjoyed Clerks III more than this one.

*The 4:30 Movie* is a welcome return to form for Kevin Smith that should please his biggest fans.

On the filmmaking side of things, here Smith has effectively recreated aspects of late 1980’s life in the glorification of Professional Wrestling, (one side character gets a good moment of bonding with one of their larger-than-life heroes), that small town sense of friendship and possibilities, and strangely enough the lighting was starkly reminiscent of many movies and TV shows of that era like Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, The Goonies, Golden Girls, or even Cheers to name a few. The single beat scene of the film though is when Brian David is sulking behind the Movie Theater after getting “Banned for Life” when the Usher (Genesis Rodriguez), a quietly beautiful young woman in her twenties, speaks up and they discuss films, the love of both of their lives. Since Movies are essentially most of what my own life revolves around, this got to me. Two film nerds discussing different filmmakers they both loved, when she says she’s gonna go to film school it sparks a realization in Brian David that filmmakers are just people, even if they haven’t made one yet. The line “Movies make Life make sense” stuck with me, because I firmly believe that. Kevin Smith’s The 4:30 Movie isn’t the best movie of the year, nor will it be nominated for any Oscars, or even win the Box Office- but I loved it. Give it a shot!

Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.