SNL's Pete Davidson Corrupts a Young Teen in BIG TIME ADOLESCENCE - Sundance Review
I’m honestly not a fan of SNL star Pete Davidson. His style of comedy just doesn’t connect with me. But, he was really freakin’ good as the star of this new film that I saw at Sundance called Big Time Adolescence.
In the film, Davidson plays a character named Zeke who is on a rocky road of not doing anything with his life. He’s kind of a loser, who used to be cool, and now he is just doing the bare minimum to coast through life.
He ends up befriending the younger brother of his girlfriend after they break up. His name is Mo and over the years they spend a ridiculous amount of time together wasting time and hanging out. Most of the story, though, is set when Mo turns sixteen years old.
They are best friends, but Zeke has not been the best influence on Mo. Over the years he introduced him to beer and hard alcohol, and things get really out I’d control when Mo ends up selling drugs for Zeke at high school parties.
The film is very funny and there are a lot of solid laugh out loud moments, but the movie also tells a coming of age story that has heart. The characters are likable, and as much as Zeke rubs people the wrong way, you still can’t help but like the guy. He actually reminds me of a good friend of mine, which is probably one of the reasons why I was able to relate to the movie.
Here’s the synopsis:
It’s funny: humans have been growing up for a really long time, but somehow we still suck at it. Just look at sixteen-year-old Mo (Griffin Gluck). He’s bright enough and comes from a good family, yet his best friend is … Zeke (Pete Davidson). Yeah, that Zeke—the agressively unmotivated college dropout who used to date Mo’s older sister. Mo’s well-meaning dad (Jon Cryer) is less-than-thrilled by this state of affairs. His sister? Woof. So instead of spending his days readying himself for adulthood, young Mo is getting a very different sort of schooling. Zeke favors a nontraditional style with practicals in dealing, partying, and ghosting. Academia this ain’t.
The movie comes from first time director Jason Orley and he did a great job telling this teenage coming of age story, and he may have made a movie star out of Pete Davidson. After watching this, I’m looking forward to see what Davidson does next. Hopefully, he’s smart in picking his projects because I think he has a great film career ahead of him if he does.
