Oh, summer love. It comes for us all and often in unexpected ways and not always with people who are age-appropriate, especially as you get to that age where you start noticing…things. Sometimes though, when the sun gets high and that summer heat starts to mess with your head, you make a fool out of yourself. But that’s all part of growing up, right? Let’s get into the delightful 2024 indie, Griffin in Summer.
We open at the school talent show on the last day of the year. A young couple is singing a cliched and romantic song poorly to rousing applause. Then it’s Griffin’s turn. He’s performing an excerpt from his original play that he’s writing. I want to be completely clear and not hyperbolic about this scene. I was cracking up from start to finish. When I thought Griffin was doing a monologue, it was already funny, but when he took a step and turned to talk to his last position, becoming a second character, I lost it laughing. It’s an amazing tone-setter for the whole movie. The subject matter of the play isn’t kid stuff at all, which adds so much to the comedy. It’s the opposite dynamic you see from Jason Bateman in Bad Words; here it’s the kid who’s too grown up for the situation and that makes so much of his every movement and mannerism so funny. Griffin is clearly gifted and very intelligent. And socially, he’s…well awkward isn't the right word, because he’s not low on confidence, nor does he appear to have any anxiety about social interactions or performing in front of all of his classmates. I suppose he’s socially uninterested or apathetic. All that matters is the play. He’s 14-years-old and he’s not an aspiring playwright. No, he already is one.
The quintessential summer activity: production meetings held in a basement
But things start to change when his mom Helen, whom he calls by her first name every time but once in the movie, hires Brad, the 25-year-old son of one of her friends, to help out while Griffin’s father is away. Helen, played by Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets, The Last of Us), always appears to be just a little bit too busy and a tad bit overwhelmed, and she needs help with some of the DIY work around the house. Brad is played by Owen Teague (Task, It: Chapter Two) and he’s just moved back to their sleepy little suburb after a spell in Bushwick, living as a performance artist who took his shot and missed. Griffin, played by Everett Blunck (The Audacity, The Plague), is annoyed by Brad’s presence at first, especially as the noise he makes and the music he listens to disrupts Griffin’s creative process. And as he explains to Brad, in possibly the funniest line in the movie, this is his place of business. Brad is uncooperative; although to be fair, when you’ve been hired to do light handyman work, it’s not really a silent gig. Griffin’s disdain turns to something else, however, when, on a hot summer day, Brad takes his shirt off and it awakens something in Griffin. From there an infatuation grows that threatens the play and his relationship with all his friends.
The cast is rounded out by Abby Ryder Fortson as Kara, the director of the play and Griffin’s best friend, and Kathryn Newton as Chloe either of whom you might have seen playing Cassie Lang, depending on which Ant-Man you’re watching, as well as child actors Alivia Bellamy, Johanna Colón, and Gordon Rocks, who are Griffin’s actors. Child actors can be hit or miss and while Griffin and Kara are the meatiest roles of the kids, the rest of them do a wonderful job as well. I think the highest praise I can give to the actors and the writing is that it never felt like I was watching actors acting, but rather kids being kids. They felt completely natural and I think that’s pretty impressive for such young actors. Daniel Radcliffe may be killing it in Reggie Dinkins, but when he was this age, he never seemed so natural. It should also be said that Griffin in Summer is the feature debut for writer/director Nicholas Colia and I can’t be more excited to see where he goes from here. I think this could be the launch (so to speak, this movie is based on his own previous short) of a very promising filmmaker from whom I want to see more.
As I mentioned earlier, Griffin is working on his play, “Regrets of Autumn”, which is why he’s so prickly at Brad’s disruptions. He’s put himself under a lot of pressure; this isn’t just some theoretical play he’s writing, he’s not putting on something for school. He wants to stage this play with his friends as the actors. So much comedy stems from this play and I’m here for it. This is a very serious play he’s coming up with, there’s no kid stuff here. Griffin, like many other writers and creative types, especially at that age, is highly influenced by life around him and when you’re 14, most of life around you is your home. Helen is largely on her own and you get clues throughout the movie that her husband, Griffin’s dad, isn’t just away for work. There’s something deeper and darker going on in their marriage and it’s clearly leading Griffin to write a play about a long relationship that blossomed from two young lovers meeting in college to a hateful, spiteful portrait of love turned to disgust. He certainly gets some of the details of adult life wrong in his writing, but that’s to be expected and very funny when you notice it. Despite that, he’s got a pretty strong grasp of the complicated relationship dynamics that change as time continues to weather us. There’s a lot of precocious writing of young people who are “old souls” who are just into whatever the author is into, so you see a lot of young heroes who are deeply into classic rock and Teddy Roosevelt-style self-reliance. But you don’t get that here; Griffin’s grown-up demeanor never feels fake or hollow, rather he comes across as a serious kid. Which I totally get because I was also a serious kid who had to learn to lighten up as I got to be around his age.
Poker face, Griffin. Poker face!
Part of this movie is Griffin learning to understand himself. It’s noticeable just how much he changes as the film progresses. At the beginning, Griffin is very buttoned down, both literally and figuratively. He’s a 14-year-old boy who wears button-down shirts tightly tucked into his ironed shorts. As his feelings for Brad grow, you get to see how much Brad’s influence changes Griffin. He eventually starts wearing t-shirts and not even tucking them in. It’s fluid visual storytelling. One of the things that I really love about this movie is how different the story focus is from what it would have been if it were made 30 or even 20 years ago. Maybe even 10 years ago. I don’t know if Griffin noticing Brad is the first time Griffin is realizing that he might be gay or whether it’s his first awakening of any kind and, frankly, that’s not the story. 30 years ago, this would have been a movie about a misunderstood suburban kid struggling with his sexuality and it would have been the conversation.
Kathryn Newton continues to shine playing plucky characters. Should I watch the third Ant-Man movie?
But here, in this movie made in 2024, it’s not a shock, it’s not a surprise, his sexuality’s validity isn’t questioned or challenged. It’s simply never an issue, which is so refreshing. I didn’t specifically choose this movie to write about during Pride, but I’m so glad that I found it now. I love seeing depictions of diversity like this where it’s just a thing that’s there and it’s not controversial. There are kids out there everyday learning that they are or might be LGBT+ and that’s completely normal and it’s important that there’s not just positive media about vulnerable people getting to be who they are, but also media that treats it neutrally. Perhaps neutral isn’t the right word for it, so to clarify, I mean something where an LGBT+ character just gets to exist and be themselves. Where it’s just a fact. Griffin’s sexuality isn’t up for debate. He’s developed feelings for the person he has feelings for and it’s as simple as that. It’s so refreshing to me to see a story like this because we need all kinds and the reactions that I’ve seen to this year’s Pride Month should stand as a testament to just how important both Pride and media depictions of the LGBT+ community and the individuals who make it are. You can write a Bible verse on a hat and dominate the social media space for days, but acceptance of who people are is always going to be more powerful. And as long as people keep trying, as long as those outside of vulnerable communities continue to stand alongside them and accept them and fight on their behalf, we can always push towards more acceptance and more inclusion. And I think that’s really cool.
Oh boy was I worried about this scene, but everything turned out fine.
Griffin in Summer is such a lovely, wholesome, and funny movie that’s so relatable. I mean, we’ve all had completely inappropriate summer crushes and sometimes make a fool of ourselves in the process. I remember mine. I was a little younger than Griffin and, so stereotypically, she was a camp counselor. And blonde and British. It would never had worked. I was 12 and not allowed to ride my bike on major roads, let alone trying to ride across the Atlantic. I’m not a boat scientist, a boatologist, if you will, but I now have serious doubts as to whether a 10-speed mountain bike is the ideal choice for a solo transatlantic journey. But watching Griffin go through the stages of this boyhood crush juxtaposed with the very serious and grown-up subject matter of his play just so wonderfully captures what it’s like to be at that age and what it’s like to feel things that are brand new to you. Griffin grows throughout the movie in a really fun way that I think a lot of people will appreciate and see themselves in. Griffin in Summer is not rated, but there’s no nudity or graphic violence, and other than a few (mostly very fun) swears, it’s largely family friendly. At 93 minutes and streaming on Hulu and Disney+, it’s a quick film that captures a snapshot of a moment in life that so many of us go through and a lovely reminder of the innocence of a good summer crush.
Yeah, I get it kid, I hated being forced to swim too. I’m like Ben Shapiro’s wife, I don’t get wet.