Snack Shack review by Bobby Blakey
Coming of age comedies often have some of the best variety of storytelling allowing for all sorts of growth and directions for the characters and stories. The latest looking to serve up its own tale is Snack Shack starring Conor Sherry, Gabriel LaBelle, Mika Abdalla, Nick Robinson, and David Costabile from The Bunny Game and Dinner in America director Adam Rehmeier. Could this film capture that summer youth magic, or will it have to close for business?
Snack Shack follows Nebraska City, summer of 1991, where inseparable best friends AJ and Moose seize the opportunity to run the local pool's rundown snack shack after their plan to gamble on dog races and sell home-brewed beer goes down the drain. Dreaming of striking it rich, things take an unexpected turn when they meet summer visitor Brooke, an effortlessly cool lifeguard who puts their big summer plans, and their friendship, at risk.
I knew nothing about this film going in but from the poster alone looked like it was going to be a fun overall vibe. The film is a typical coming of age teen comedy with the twist of these two friends scoring big on this new business venture. It is a bit chaotic at times and follows a pretty by the numbers format, but still does a good jog to entertain.
Right out the gate we are introduced to AJ and Moose as they are involved in their current get rich quick plan and set the tone for who they are and their relationship. You can easily see how close they are, but also the fragility of the two and the unintentional hierarchy between them. This kind of relationship is strong, but also leads to eventual issues that we all know will occur in the nature of what they are doing.
All the usual tropes are here in the teen story such as the girl, the bullies, the
overbearing parents and struggle holding the friendship together. Despite it all being something, we have seen a thousand times over it still finds its own voice to tell the story. Sherry and LaBelle have great chemistry despite it often being dysfunctional while still a strong friendship connection. They help to make the film stand out more than it might have otherwise in some ways.
The rest of the cast was good, and the film works in what it sets out to do. It’s not knocking any new doors down int eh genre, but one that is still worth checking out and hope it finds the audience it deserves.
Decide for yourself and check out Snack Shack when it theaters on March 15th from Paramount and Republic Pictures.