The Last Summer

The acting is stiff, the characters lack dimension and it's just weird, you can see a lot of what they TRIED to do and didn't pull off. Like when they pan over the DJ booth into the "lit warehouse party" and you see some poor PA's hands on the deck and she snatches them out of the way as they pass the gimbal over it. And why would anyone be filming interviews at a warehouse party. The dialogue was fine just the whole thing falls flat. There's no relatability in any of these characters, it's just another millennial teen coming of age-ish thing. Also the Black kid throwing away his diploma? Who let that one slip through? Yikes

The summer after high school is obviously a different experience for all of us. I think this movie captures that essence well. You have the typical high school going into to college break up, the classic summer after high school rushed summer romance, the should I fake who I am until I make it story, to the who the hell am I going to be? story lines here. I think the concept of the movie was great. But the execution was a little subpar. Personally thought the Audrey story line was the most impactful for a movie that seems mostly geared to the high school viewers. First the babysitting job, Grade A on a the lessons learned aspect. The relationship building was impactful for the probably 20 minutes shown of that story. It was a little Uptown Girls-ish bit was refreshing. Nothing out of the norm there but it was impactful to Audrey's decision making. But most important, I respected the hell out of the fact that the movie included a story line that actually highlights a major understated significance in our society. Signaling the message: hey you don't need to go to college to make it in life. You don't need college to live up to expectations of going to a school just because everyone is telling you too or because your friends are going away. Personally I went to college and postgrad but in today's society, college is becoming a prerequisite for life in general which is a big unfair and untrue factor that we thrust upon young people. Glad we're finally signaling this message that (not in a negative way) maybe college is not for everyone. And that you can still do good in the world even if you don't have that "piece of paper" after 4 years. Good go out there and figure out who you are message. That put aside the rest of the movie, was predictable romance story lines. 100% cute. Typical romance/flings we all may have went threw in high school. Maybe it made you feel nostalgic. Or maybe it made you remember that time when you were 18. Cute story lines but nothing is over the top. Personally think this movie may have had a couple too many story lines. None that really tied together which is fine and unique in its own way. Just would have liked to see the stories connecting a little more. Not asking for these people to become best friends but by the time you graduate high school, most experiences are shared between cliques at the beginning of that summer. The experience is a shared one, this the end of an era of your life that you shared with your classmates! Show something maybe! Some type of inclusion with all stories should have happened at one point in this movie. The story this movie told could have been 4 different movies(obviously would have been boring) but just felt a little all over the place since they didn't tie. And god bless anybody dating an MLB player 2 weeks after high school graduation. You go girl. Get it. Also KJ and Maia were cute.