Director: Elijah Bynum
Writer: Elijah Bynum (Screenplay)
Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Maika Monroe, Alex Roe, Emory Cohen, Thomas Jane, Maia Mitchell, William Fichtner
Plot: In the summer of 1991, a sheltered teenage boy comes of age during a wild summer he spends in Cape Cod getting rich from selling pot to gangsters, falling in love for the first time, partying and eventually realizing that he is in over his head.
Tagline – One summer can change everything.
Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Simple Drug Drama
Story: Hot Summer Nights starts when Daniel (Chalamet) gets forced to spend his summer at Cape Cod where he doesn’t fit in with either crowd, the townies coming for summer vacation or the locals that just get by. When Daniel meets Hunter (Roe) he starts to learn about the local drug supply, who offers him friendship as the two start working together to improve their business.
When Daniel and Hunter start working with people higher up the chain in Dex (Cohen) they start seeing the money flying in, as they take the role of supplier rather than the dealers, which sees business skyrocket.
Thoughts on Hot Summer Nights
Characters – Daniel is a teenager that is drawn into grief back home forcing his mother to send him away for the summer, he isn’t considered one of the rich families coming to town, he isn’t considered one of the locals, leaving him in the middle of no man land, he befriends the local drug dealer, starting to make movement in the industry, while dating the dream girl of the area, these 3 months are special for him, a chance to reinvent himself. McKayla is the dream girl around town, every boy wants to just have a conversation with her, she is Hunter’s sister and is starting a relationship with Daniel behind his back, even though she doesn’t talk to him anymore. Hunter is the local drug dealer that the holiday makers visit for their local score, he is running things smoothly even with the cops getting closer to him, when Daniel offers up ideas to take the heat away from him, he gets a chance to enjoy his life more, even trying to reconnect with his sister once again, though he does start to lose control of Daniel and his ambition. Dex is the supplier for the two, he will take out anybody who crosses with his business, with him keeping a keen eye of the pair.
Performances – Timothee Chalamet does do a great job here, he looks like the innocent kid who get in over his head, which is what is required with this role. Alex Roe does show the other side of the partnership well, being the one everybody looks at and is scared of getting on the bad side. Maika Monroe is strong to watch too, though her character is like every women caught in the middle of a love story between a drug dealer and believing they are not in this world. Thomas Jane doesn’t get many scenes but does all he needs to with his scenes.
Story – The story here follows a young man who gets set to Cape Cod for the summer where he starts to get involved with the local drug dealers, with ambitions to grew the business and have a summer romance with the most popular girl in town. This is a story we have seen before, following somebody who gets drawn into a crime world that they think they know better than the person they are working with, which sees their new ideas working well to start with, but never working out well by the end, we also get a love story which for the most part isn’t anything we haven’t seen before and by the end this is such a routine story and being told in narration form, from somebody who only heard it second hand doesn’t help with how it unfolds.
Comedy/Crime/Romance – The comedy in this film comes more from how the story is told more than anything else, which does include going into the drug dealing operation, which shows the crime side of things, with the romance being just on the back burner of the story.
Settings – The film is set in and around Cape Cod which would be a perfect location for the drug dealer to operate in, with the drugs being required by the rich and famous.
Scene of the Movie – The fair ground scene.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It really doesn’t offer too much more.
Final Thoughts – This is a by the book crime comedy romance that might not look for a lot of laughs, while trying to say just how ideas can spiral out of control.
Overall: By the Book.
