Written and Directed by Kevin Smith | 87 min | ▲▲▲△△ | VOD, Hoopla
The best Kevin Smith movies are the autobiographical ones. Even the Angels And Demons comedy Dogma plumbs his personal relationship with both Catholicism and comic books. (Another truth of his oeuvre is that Jay and Silent Bob are always better as supporting characters.) It’s hard to believe after a career that’s stretched 30 years — I went to see the anniversary rerelease of Clerks in the cinema the other day — he still has more stories inspired by his life, but The 4:30 Movie certainly has the whiff of memoir. In the parlance of modern Hollywood, you could even call it a prequel to Clerks.
Brian David (Austin Zajur) is a 1980s New Jersey teen who loves movies. His very best day is spent at his local cinema where he and his pals (Reed Northrup and Nicholas Cirillo) pay for one show and then sneak into a second or third. But Brian’s having a pretty amazing day already — he found the nerve to call Melody Barnegat (Siena Agudong), a girl he’s had a crush on since last summer. He freaked out when she got friendly at the pool and it took awhile for him to get it together. She’s agreed to meet him at the 4:30 screening of an R-Rated thriller… they’ll have to sneak into that.
The romcom set-up for Brian and Melody is entirely charming, reminding you of Smith’s gift for dialogue, maybe his greatest strength as a filmmaker going back to his 1990s work. The vibe between Brian and his pals also evokes both Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Dazed And Confused.
Unfortunately, during the middle act largely set at the movie theatre things get a bit bogged down. Smith serves up Ken Jeong as Manager Mike, the cinema owner who seems to hate movies and the kids who go to them. He’s such a cartoon, he turns the movie into one for awhile, too. We also get a host of repeated, winking gags about pop culture — like someone saying, “Nobody’s ever going to pay to see a Batman movie” — many of which don’t land.
The high point of this portion are three fake Grindhouse trailers — they’re a treat. Smith also finds cameos for a few of his favourite actors and other familiar faces such as Sam Richardson, Justin Long, Method Man, Rosario Dawson, Jason Biggs, Jason Lee, Rachel Dratch, and, of course, Jason Mewes.
The 4:30 Movie rights itself in the homestretch as friendships get fixed and Brian gets to hang out with Melody and say all the stuff he’s always wanted to say. It’s sweet, funny, and heavily nostalgic time that proves Smith still has fuel in his filmmaking tank provided he can tell more stories inspired by his own life. Maybe there’s a Hollywood in the ’90s takedown in his future.
