With The 4:30 Movie, Kevin Smith has made the most mature film of his career. It’s also a look back at one of the most immature times of his life. Set in 1985, this roman á clef covers one summer day when rising high school Senior Brian David (Austin Zajur) finally screws up the courage to ask out the love of his life, Melody Barnegat (Siena Agudong). It’s a movie date, and it still includes his best buddies Burny (Nicholas Cirillo) and Belly (Reed Northrup), but it sort of counts?
It’s high school, so we know Melody probably isn’t “the one,” but she is the one for now. That’s enough to disrupt the delicate ecosystem of a trio of friends. It also complicates the scheme of carefully timing switching theaters so they can watch each movie at the Atlantic Cinemas. Horny teens don’t do the best job of avoiding the self-important eye of cinema owner Mike (Ken Jeong).
Of course, it’s still a Kevin Smith movie, so some of the situations might stretch the imagination a bit. Despite occasionally veering into 80s sex comedy, The 4:30 Movie maintains a sweet and earnest center. Brian David missed his chance to feel up Melody in her pool the summer before. But that’s because he wasn’t sure he had consent. His dwelling on that moment is clearly less about the contact and far more about the connection.
In the behind the scenes extra, Smith identifies Burny as being based on one of the executive producers, Bill Bromiley. Maybe it’s a tribute to Bromiley that the script makes Burny so outrageously smooth with women. But it’s also honest — Burny has a difficult time with Brian David upsetting the balance of master and follower. Smith does admit that at least some of the confrontation between Brian David and Burny did happen in real life.
At its heart, The 4:30 Movie is less about dating the love of his life, and more about the real Smith figuring out that he wasn’t just a lover of movies. He wanted to become a maker of movies. From the beginning, the potential rift among friends is telegraphed. Burny and Belly like going to the movies, and don’t mind seeing them again and again. But Brian David knows the movies. Seeing Astro Blaster and the Beaver Men for the umpteenth time isn’t a way to sneak into other movies. It’s something to be studied.
That movie parodies Flash Gordon, and what we see is awkward and too stupid to be real. But a couple of the movie trailers the boys sit through? Spot on for the 80s, even if we don’t want to admit it. One of them gives Smith the chance to bring in some of his regular ensemble — wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, daughter Harley Quinn Smith, and best friend Jason Mewes. Others are salted in quick appearances, with Justin Long getting the biggest side trip as an older movie fan named Stank.
Some of The 4:30 Movie follows the pattern of Smith’s earlier movies. When Sam Richardson first shows up as pro wrestler Major Murder, it’s clear that somehow, no matter how unlikely, he’ll provide a moral lesson later. Take a step back, though, and you realize we’re really meeting more down to earth versions of the people Smith would build his film career upon. If Burny seems like proto-Brodie from Mallrats, it’s true.
None of it feels forced, though. Many scenes are shot with more confidence, and more of an artist’s eye, than Smith has often allowed himself. The dialogue may be funny, but it’s not unrealistic. Do I believe Austin Zajur could grow up to be Kevin Smith? Maybe. At least, the Kevin Smith who stopped and took a breath to truly be honest as a filmmaker. Clerks 3 was moving; The 4:30 Movie really moves.
The kid has a few pictures left in him.
(Full confession: in college, I worked in several multiplexes. So I know how accurate those trailers are.)
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