Griffin in Summer

If you enjoyed John Waters' "Polyester", the deadpan humor of "Daria" or the irreverence of Enid in "Ghost world", you can definitely enjoy this movie. Griffin is not your average tween.

This is a rare coming-of-age story where your main characters get to have layers, instead of being products of the Disney Channel acting school.

Given that it acknowledges the reality that all humans start developing their sexualities and attractions even before we're able to articulate what we are feeling, I am sure this film will not be widely embraced. A very conservative and exclusionary environment is not the right time for it. But it is exactly what we need. You can bet that (just like most non-superhero macho films) it will receive several bad grades here on IMDb with no real explanation of its merits or shortcomings. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Even though there's not much of Melanie Lynskey, I am okay with it given that the film lasts as much as it needs to. It doesn't overstay its welcome. I sure hope we get to see much more of both the director and Everett Blunck.

I have to say, I was blown away by how well this is done. The acting and writing is phenomenal, and the movie never feels small. Quite the opposite. This movie may be hard to market, and it's better to go in not knowing anything about the story / tone, but it will ultimately succeed by sheer quality, and word of mouth will make this a cult classic.

I thought this movie was a delight from start to finish. It's a sensitive, yet very funny story of adolescent angst. The protagonist is Griffin, a precocious 14-year-old who writes plays and puts them on in his basement, with his stage-struck friends playing adult roles. His new play is obviously autobiographical. It's about his alcoholic mother and philandering father. He describes it as "WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF meets AMERICAN BEAUTY." Of course, his cast is composed of adolescents who don't really want to spend a lot of time rehearsing, which upsets him because is a project of passion for him. Into all this comes a 25-year-old youth named Brad, whom his mother has hired to do some work around the house. Griffin develops a crush on Brad when he finds out that the young man lives in New York and is a "performance artist." He fires his friend from the cast and replaces him with Brad, with hilarious and cringeworthy results. This could have turned into CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, but thankfully it doesn't. This is a coming-of-age story. And Griffin grows up a lot over the course of the film. This is a terrific feature debut by director-writer Nicholas Colia. I eagerly await his next film. To me, this film indicates that he's a major talent. It's a clever and heartfelt script and shows that Colia has a real ear for the speech of today's teens, and he gets wonderful performances from the whole cast. I especially loved Everett Blunck as Griffin and Kathryn Newton as Chloe (Brad's girlfriend), but they're all really excellent. Owen Teague as Brad probably has the most challenging role, but he carries it off splendidly. The parents' roles are smaller, but they are all fully realized. Bravos to all. I think this is going to be the sleeper hit of the year.

Griffin in Summer is the most charming, original movie that perfectly captures the chaos and intense emotions that come with being 14.

It's familiar in the best way without being predictable. It overdelivers, but somehow doesn't take itself too seriously. I laughed the whole way through and was genuinely invested in Griffin's happiness. It's the kind of film that I know will stay with me for a long time.

If you're expecting a laugh out loud comedy with Griffin in Summer, well, personally I didn't find it funny at all. What I did see on screen was myself at 13 and 14 years old and I suspect many gay men will see themselves in Griffin, expertly played by Everett Blunck, who will most likely see his career take off after this. He stars in the film and honestly he is the film because while some of the other performances are OK, they're also uneven and leaning towards caricatures as opposed to realistic characters. Griffin is not a caricature and I suspect that whoever wrote this, wrote it from some real experience, it's very charming, touching and in the ways of reality , also sad. I found a few parts of the plot not very believable, and yet the movie does offer up a glimpse of hope. This is not your average coming out film, and to it's credit it also examines relationships in general. It's very well done.