After 10 or so minutes of Jonah Hill’s directorial debut starting was beginning to think I should have chosen to see Red Joan instead. The group of skateboard loving kids depicted seemed pretty unlikable and the whole culture depicted is one that is alien to me. However, I then felt myself being dragged into the story. The initially naive main protagonist, Stevie (Sunny Suljic) remains a little hard to believe but the supporting cast of characters turned out to be so much more than the one dimensional slackers that they appeared to first be.
Hill does an excellent job of capturing the time in such a way that it really feels like a film made in that decade. Of the performances it is no surprise that Katherine Waterston, as Dabney, Stevie’s Mum, stands out. She is a fine actress and is surrounded by inexperienced young actors. Of those, Na-kel Smith is excellent as Ray, the most ambitious and sympathetic of the group.
It is not often that a film’s final act is the strongest but it is the case here.
There is a terrific scene as Ray tries to steer Stevie in the right direction, a brilliantly staged shocking accident and a moving moment after that as Dabney begins to accept her son’s friends. Aside from some of the guys’ troubling behaviour the other thing that may put some viewers off is Stevie having a sexual encounter with an older girl. If the sexes were swapped for that, there would have been outrage. As it is, it is a bit icky. Mostly though a highly impressive debut from Hill.
Rating: 9 out of 10