The 4:30 Movie

"1½⭐/5⭐ - This is deeply disappointing. For one thing this is one of the few Kevin Smith movies that felt as if it was setting itself up to be a genuine slice-of-life story in the form of a semi-autobiographichal coming-of-age unfolding. I thought that it would aim and commit to a more straightforward approach to characters who feel real and multi-dimensional, and would embody a time of great reverential love for the director. Sadly, it's not the case. I do think that it starts out as a very grounded comedy with the first 15 or 20 minutes feeling like a promising start. Then the 80s' references take hold one after another with meta nods to our time in the form of Stars Wars jokes and how crazy and stupid it would be if they made prequels. Also, I liked the main character at the beginning and hoped he would be more grounded and given more realistic depth, but they pair him with two friends who are more like poorly thought-out caictures from Smith's previous movies and by the end he himself felt like just another caricature. Aside from his love interest I don't think I liked a single character in this film. To call them annoying is an understatement. I do think the indie production and how it evokes the eighties is top-notch. From the wardrobe, hair, makeup, music, fake wrestling promos, and some of the fake trailers used when they are watching movies in the theaters is so well put together. But it's all in the service of shallow characters who spend the whole movie sneaking into rated R films and creating dumb drama that I didn't believe was important even for a second. More than that the drama wasn't even endearing. I do think Kevin Smith has a huge heart and I hate giving anything he's done a negative rating. Some of the story had endearing moments, but the rest of the movie doesn't pay them justice. This could have been his "Linklater movie" but I walked away feeling like it would have worked better as a comic book. I truly wanted to like it"