Last Updated on September 15, 2024 by
The 4:30 Movie is a 2024 comedy Movie Directed by Kevin Smith. The film stars Siena Agudong, Austin Zajur, and Kate Micucci, with a 1h 28m runtime, and will be released on September 13, 2024.
Over the last two or three years, Kevin Smith has perused what can be described as ‘historical’, in one way or another. This nostalgia is not unprecedented for Smith, who has revisited his old favorite characters numerous times, and his films have always been permeated with discussions of entertainment from decades prior. However, after he suffered a heart attack in 2018, Smith has been more existential in his works, which is evident in the films he has made.
In the recent sequel of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which was released in 2019, Smith literally acknowledged the beauty of being a father by assigning one of his most iconic roles, Jay, which is played by Jason Mewes, an estranged daughter who incidentally is played by Smith’s real daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, Though in the same sequel, he appeared to compete with the scrupulosity of telling a tale as good as Ch Towards the end of his career, Smith came back to the characters that he met while opening the film, Clerks III (2022), where Randal and Dante make their movie inside the Quick Stop, and both of which suffer from their respective heart attacks. The horror films that Smith made were rather bizarre, so it was good to see him get back to films that were closer to his heart.
In the latest film, The 4:30 Movie, Smith makes a film that is as personal as Clerks and makes a teen movie about just hanging out at the movies, having friends that you fight with all the time, and thinking about a girl that you never got with. If this was Smith’s childhood, which was somewhat resembling the summer of 1986 in New Jersey, it is no wonder that he grew to be a man like this and make such films. Smith has been best in rom-coms where he is true to himself, which is evident in The 4:30 Movie, which attempts to solve some of the common issues that come with Keanu Reeves movies despite being overly sincere.
What Is ‘The 4:30 Movie’ About?
Austin Zajur plays the role of Brian David – a sixteen-year-old kid who spends his days skulking from theater to theater within his mall multiplex theater and dictating his thoughts to a tape recorder anywhere he wanders as a writing exercise. His friends are also often along for these movie trips; Burny (Nicholas Cirillo) is the lady’s man, and the ladies catch Belly (Reed Northrup) getting into mischief.
Brian David surprises his friends, particularly Melody Barnegat, portrayed by Siena Agudong when he asks her to join them in a movie at 4:30 in the afternoon.
It is unknown if Melody and Brian had a fling last summer, but what is clear is that it took Brian a long time to gather the courage to ask Melody out. When she says yes, Brian has to figure out how to get her into the R-rated film, escape the anger of the frustrated theater owner, Manager Mike (played by Ken Jeong), and deal with his friend’s annoyance over having a new girl to chase.
Still, even when the stakes are small in Smith’s films, they are somehow big for his characters, which is ideal for the director’s first crack at a mostly standard teen comedy.
Smith sets the scene at the beginning of the film by showing us Brian David and Melody Barnegat; he finally calls her and asks her out. In fact, this is functional awkwardness at its best – cheesy but heartfelt, or rather earnest, and genuinely authentic insofar as this feels like a fictionalized version of an incident from Smith’s youth that he’s been replaying in his mind since. When Melody agrees to hang out with him later in the day, Brian’s triumph could not be more significant for this character, a beautiful scene to begin this form to capture the spirit that Smith wants to tell in this story.
Kevin Smith’s Usual Issues Pop Up Again With ‘The 4:30 Movie’
It is only when these three friends get to the multiplex that one is able to see some of Smith’s familiar tricks. Some of these friends tell puns that do not make sense, and other jokes are a runner of characters stating things that will be wrong in the future, such as saying that end credit scenes are no longer a thing and Bill Cosby will be a legend. The theater is sometimes filled with amusing, non-sequitur one-scene appearances, which appear to be for the purpose of filling up the film, which is already close to 76 minutes. Smith also introduces fake trailers, and most of these are usually in the ‘dick and fart’ jokes’ category that he enjoys doing.
The strongest of these is arguably a fairly good horror trailer that has no use for Smith’s jokes; it seems like a relic of Smith’s horror days. But Smith even provides a fake movie within a movie: Astro Blasters and the Beaver Men, a Flash Gordon imitation with Diedrich Bader and Logic. This is all somewhat funny sometimes, but it casts the impression that Smith does not possess enough material to span the whole movie. In this middle section, as it has been outlined, some weaknesses tend to be apparent in Smith’s work.
The mentioned show, The 4:30 Movie, is very brief, but towards the end, it appears sometimes to last longer than it really does. Perhaps some jokes stay on screen for more than necessary, while scenes do not know when to fade out. Here, Smith is writing, and for countless moments, the pop that it requires is absent, especially because much of the nonexistent narrative is replaced by cameos, false movies, and raunchy jokes that fall flat. It is almost as if in this youthful romance where passion is as alicorn and love as a dragon, Smith feels the urge to include ingredients that fans would like in his films instead of what works for the plot and the script..
‘The 4:30 Movie’ Works When It Focuses on the Teen Romance at the Center
However, as soon as Brian David and Melody Barnegat make a date and the rest of the characters and gags recede into the backdrop, The 4:30 Movie reverts to its sweet and innocent comedic joy of the youth that it began with and is a side of Smith that is endearing and should be explored more often. Zajur and Agudong are really adorable when paired together, and both successfully portray sweet young love, which develops from admiration for the other individual. Zajur gets to portray someone whose love for movies is touching, and we get to glimpse what a young Smith might have been like, lost and unsure of what to do with his life, but with an ambition and love for films. They could have reduced Agudong to little more than the girl liked by Brian David, but she genuinely cares for this awkward film nerd who could barely confess that he likes her.
The 4:30 Club co-opts its humanity at the end of the play’s third act; what would be if a sweet, plain romantic comedy should be’s next work of Smith? Smith’s final credit states, “The Director would also like to thank the Audience for giving him an extended adolescence. ” After witnessing this, this phrase seems more like a curse during the last film of the show. On the one hand, this happy vision of childhood is mostly appealing when it stays childish and innocent, focusing on the feelings of budding love and the choices regarding the future as a teenager.
On the other hand, it is the same concert in which Smith performs playfully appealing directly to this audience, which reveals what appears to be adolescent behavior that Smith should have outgrown is evident.
The 4:30 Movie is usually a considerably awkward and pretty clumsy teen comedy, but it seems real, and that makes is more than worth it. However, when Smith reverts to his usual quirks, it detracts from the beautiful story being portrayed in this showcase of odd humor and unrelated appearances.
The 4:30 Movie 2024 Parents Guide Age Rating
The 4:30 Movie is rated R by the Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for sexual content.
