Best Summer Ever

Name: Best Summer Ever
Genre: Musical
Released: April 27, 2021
Duration: 72 min
Rating: 72
Cast: A.J. Murray, Alec Bandler, Ben Bosbach, Bobby Bird, Bradford Haynes

2021

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Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Critic Reviews

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Best Summer Ever

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Movie Details & Credits

Freestyle Digital Media | Release Date (Streaming): April 27, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: A.J. Murray, Alec Bandler, Ben Bosbach, Bobby Bird, Bradford Haynes, Craig Biebel, Eileen Grubba, Emily Kranking, Eric Carl Adams, Giulia Alexander, Holly Palmer, Jacob Waltuck, Lawrence Carter-Long, Maya Albanese, MuMu, Rickey Alexander Wilson, Riley Barker, Sean Barton, Shannon DeVido, Shari Bisnaught

Summary: Sage and Anthony have had the “Best Summer Ever” after falling in love at a dance camp in Vermont. Not expecting to see each other again until the following summer, Sage, by a twist of fate, arrives unexpectedly at the same high school as Anthony. Now faced with the drama of high school cliques, an evil cheerleader, and the illegal secretSage and Anthony have had the “Best Summer Ever” after falling in love at a dance camp in Vermont. Not expecting to see each other again until the following summer, Sage, by a twist of fate, arrives unexpectedly at the same high school as Anthony. Now faced with the drama of high school cliques, an evil cheerleader, and the illegal secret that keeps Sage's family on the move, they are forced to reevaluate their relationship as Tony struggles to be both the high school football star and the dancer he’s always wanted to be.… Expand

Director: Lauren Smitelli and Michael Parks Randa

Genre(s): Musical

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 72 min

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Critic Reviews

Calum Marsh

Apr 29, 2021

Tender and exuberant, it includes set pieces modeled on “Footloose” and “Grease,” and feels closer to those films in spirit than to the Disney Channel. This is the kind of movie that vibrates with the energy of the people who made it, whose enthusiasm radiates from the screen. Read full review

IndieWire Kristen Lopez

Apr 29, 2021

Best Summer Ever isn’t the best movie ever, but what it does is continue to show that disability can be fun, unique, and enticing without being dour. It’s the best at what it’s doing and you’ll want to see more. Read full review

Bobby LePire

Apr 29, 2021

Best Summer Ever wants to do so much at once that it never slows down to allow the more dramatic moments to sink in properly. But, as a showcase for the cast and crew, it works rather well. Most of the songs are good, the dancing is energetic and well-choreographed, and it has charm to spare. Read full review

Joe Leydon

Apr 29, 2021

Overall, however, Best Summer Ever is too earnest and charming to ever feel smart-alecky or unduly spoofy, and the winning performances by DeVido and Wilson go a long way toward encouraging a serious emotional investment in the relationship between Sage and Tony. Read full review

Leslie Felperin

Apr 29, 2021

Although some might argue that not mentioning anyone's difference is a kind of erasure in itself, it's hard not to get swept up in the cast and crew's joyful insouciance. Plus, the cheeky showtunes, co-written by onscreen villain MuMu and executive producer Peter Halby, are a hoot. Read full review

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hnestlyonthesly

Jan 14, 2023

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Best Summer Ever came out on streaming platforms earlier this year but I'm seeing it for the first time at Paul K Longmore's Superfest Film Festival. It's at first glance a sendup to Wet Hot American Summer and its antecedents, but there are some gems awaiting you along this weird, slightly unhinged, fun movie destined to be a staple of kids' childhoods soon.

There's a fair bit of cringe in this movie, dedicated at the highest level to campiness. Probably the first time that it truly shows its face is when Sage's moms break into song and dance with coordinated hand motions for all of their lyrics. The camp is going to be divisive for audiences and is likely the reason why you're going to either love BSE or hate it or both. I've spent the last three days explaining the premise of this movie to basically anyone I see, so I think it has a bit of a mesmerizing quality to it at the confluence of celebrity cameos, camp culture, and the high school musical genre.

There are a fair number of send-ups, including a Grease "Tell Me More" song that the film cannot resist underlining and wiggling its eyebrows at you with, which is either going to make you groan or smile or--in my case--say that's what happens in Grease? Tony has his own Footloose angry dancing scene, which has been parodied by Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords and just about every other comedy show, but somehow it's still charming to see done by Rickey Wilson Jr.

DeVido takes advantage of the age-old body-shamey trope of playing a high schooler in your thirties. Emily Kranking, who plays the peppy best friend Nancy, has excellent comic timing and her interactions with Beth are some of the best gags in the movie. Beth is played by the enigmatic MuMu, and she is in many ways the perfect charismatic, cartoonishly hypersexual foil to the OTC of this movie. Beth's scheme song with G (played by a perfectly doddering Jacob Waltuck) features some of the best choreography of the show, including a moment when I think Beth is being juggled by the legs of a man lying on the floor. It's really something. The film is peppered with jaw-dropping celebrity cameos for such a small indie movie. There are some moments that really defy credulity in this movie, whose premise--or at least aesthetic vision--seems to be that of a magical realist utopia of diversity in every shot from the football team to the high school hallways to the diner down the street, an alternate history that depicts "what a nice, integrated high school could look like," as Wife puts it. Even with that in mind, the one thing that the kids in high school cannot fathom is a football player who would rather dance ballet, which seems a bit rich. But then, that's the point. In a lot of ways, the gushy, saccharine high school romance of BSE is not going to land with people who are better acquainted with Shannon DeVido's caustic, impish humor from her YouTube series Stare at Shannon from back in 2013. Wife reminded me this evening that we had seen her channel eight years ago when DeVido was yet a mere troll, making sandwiches for herself in the grocery store with items she had yet to buy, daring customers and store staff to tell a disabled person to stop stealing food. That being said, DeVido doesn't sand down the rough edges of her wit or cunning to play the innocent-eyed ingenue in BSE. She hardly ever finds herself the damsel, comes prepared with snappy comebacks, and seems to prefer playing a high school kid who knows who she is, when it would've been easy to make her a nervous, self-conscious character, consumed in self-representation and the approval of others.

One of the few shortcomings of this movie is Sage's willingness to let Tony off easy when he literally acts like he doesn't know who she is at school. Remember, at the beginning of this movie they were dating through all of summer camp, and there's no reason why they can't start dating again at his high school except for the fact that Beth appears to be implicitly blackmailing him to stay away from Sage so that she can win the title of Homecoming Queen. (That plot doesn't ever become realized, by the way--it's just a red herring.) Sage is within her rights to be pissed when Tony Luca's her, which is why she goes off on him after the pep rally for being dishonest about who he was over the summer. Her contentment with being at best a secret girlfriend and at worst the star kicker's next girl is a little disappointing. Also, Sage's moms go out and buy a house so that the family can be there until May, presumably when Sage and Tony both get accepted to a college far away and the ill-conceived plan to own a house for thirty years seems short-sighted and a bit rushed maybe. Zeno Mountain Farm's Best Summer Ever has restraint, creative vision, and all the qualities necessary for a kick-ass sequel. Embrace the cringe and let this high school movie worm its way into your ears.… Expand

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