When the Screen Was Bigger: 'The 4:30 Movie'
When the Screen Was Bigger: 'The 4:30 Movie'
After his 'Clerks' Trilogy, director Kevin Smith turns to 1980s New Jersey moviegoing in maybe the most earnest flick of 2024.
Dear Moviegoers,
As if Clerks III wasn’t enough for director Kevin Smith to explore where he’s come from and how far he’s gone in life, and more importantly with those he loves, the formerly big and now lighter-sized nerd from New Jersey has a new flick of the throwback kind: The 4:30 Movie. With me, expectations are always high for a new Kevin Smith film, no matter the perceived quality of his previous efforts. The man puts all his heart into everything he shoots and edits and, with a new lease on living after his near-fatal heart attack, doing what makes him happy on his terms is beautiful, right?
Now, I wasn’t much of a Clerks III fan, and I believe that its trailer was a much better film (Kevin is a very talented editor and can tell a hell of a story over a quick few minutes), but at least Smith swung for the fences with it. He cast friends and family, celebrated his community, and looked toward the future with fondness and optimism. The same can be said for The 4:30 Movie, only now he looks to youngsters to mix telling his story with telling their story.
It’s an entirely cute story, about three boys who spend their summers (and full years, really) watching movies at the local theater, often sneaking in throughout the day to the R-rated features, and enjoying the previews as much as the main presentation. When Kevin Smith's surrogate Brian - played by Austin Zahur - calls up his crush Melody - played by Sienna Agudong - to ask her out to a mid-afternoon showing of a Fletch-ish movie, he kickstarts a day where he and his friends will begin to come of age.
In an alternate 1986, Austin and Sienna, as Brian and Melody, are adorable together and individually. They banter, they cuddle, and they explore as teens do and should. Plans change as time goes by, but you’ll always remember that one summer when such and such happened with so and so. The 4:30 Movie is absolutely this. Self-gratifying? Shameless? Yes. But so what? It works with this story.
Less raunch and with more wholesomeness than expected, The 4:30 Movie is also a backdoor advertisement for Kevin Smith’s movie theater Smodcastle Cinemas, which is the main setting of the film. This is another love letter to his community, which is populated by Smith regulars and other familiar stars, who recognize the small-town story at hand. Like Clerks III but in more truncated ways, friends and family are here for the celebration, for the past, and a future of possibilities.
Of course, Smith can’t help himself to indulge in more than occasional references to real-world pop-culture references, like the Bill Cosby revelations and, yes, the expansion of Star Wars. These moments are when the movie becomes grating, and unfortunately can’t be avoided. They beg an interesting question though - why are we so passionate about his films? So critical, I mean? This goes beyond standard reviewing and into fanboy nitpicking, I feel. People get more wrapped up in Kevin Smith’s faults as a filmmaker than with, say, Michael Bay. THAT is more grating. Unless we’re talking about Yoga Hosers…
The best scene in The 4:30 Movie and, maybe Smith’s best-written scene in a long time is when Brian chats with a theater usher (clerk) behind the building. She talks about the great filmmaker Martha Coolidge (whose film I’ll Find You I’d like to re-review) and how she’ll move to film school soon. She inspires Brian’s future prospects, which he already knew but perhaps hadn’t accepted until that moment. For people like them, “movies make life make sense.”
There are fake trailers, which surprisingly are very accurate for their genre and style. There’s goofs and endearing speeches. There’s awkwardness in all the right places. There’s charm in spades too.
Cute. It’s just cute. Well done, sir. 3.5/5
The 4:30 Movie is now playing in limited release.