That Darn Cat!

Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele and a kitten in "Keanu." Image courtesy Warner Bros.

What surprises most about “Keanu” from the outset is the violence. A parody of films such as “John Wick,” “New Jack City,” and a plethora of crime/revenge films from the last 25 years, the movie opens with a bloodbath and maintains its violence streak. The shock comes from the involvement of stars Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, two very funny people whose sense of humor is rooted more in absurdity, silliness, and racial analysis than showing guys get shot in the head in the middle of a drug den. Even the last bit of a joke at the end of the opening sequence sets the tone though for what's to come, a movie that will indulge in a little silliness but stays a little too close to what inspired it. “Keanu” centers on a milquetoast suburban father (Key) and his cousin (Peele), who infiltrate a local gang after the latter's cat, Keanu, is kidnapped. Doing so requires them to pretend to be Omar-esque killers, the Allentown Boys, to meet with local drug lord/cat thief Cheddar (Method Man) and his main bruiser, Hi-C (Tiffany Haddish). Despite being very far out of their element, the two manage to pull it off for awhile, even as the people they're pretending to be (also played by Key and Peele) come searching for that cat. Everything comes to a head when an additional party also fights for little Keanu as blood and bullets rain down upon everyone and Will Forte is nearly eaten by a snake.

It’s worth mentioning the eponymous cat in “Keanu” is the most adorable MacGuffin in cinematic history. That kitten is so cute it explains why a cadre of drug dealers, murderers, and people with felonious intents would go out of their way to keep/steal him. It also happens to be the most clever gag the film has to offer, a running joke that a kitten could cause mayhem in a manner befitting Helen of Troy. It's a really weird joke that fits with the sense of humor Peele and Key offered in their Comedy Central program “Key and Peele,” but it works on another level too. There's an old screenwriting trope in which writers have characters save the cat (or some other little act of kindness) as a shortcut to establish heroic tendencies, the logic being a person decent enough to protect a helpless animal can't be too bad of a person. Except, in this case, in which everyone but Peele's geeky stoner Rell Williams – whose morals loosen as the film progresses – is a villain who acts in stereotypical villainous ways. With Keanu, their actions gain a hint of sweetness to them, as their intention shifts from killing wantonly to murdering to protect the cutest kitten imaginable. They become heroic by default, effectively proving the notion that saving the cat grants some heroic qualities to the worst of people; after all, nobody who saves a cat can be an evil man.

If all of “Keanu” were as smart and clever as this central joke, and if the film had probed a little deeper with its analysis of black identity that picks up in the second half before fading , it would be one of the funniest and smartest films in recent memory. For some reason though the film skirts away from the truly scary stuff, happy to revel in wanton violence but afraid to commit to the intelligence it flashes otherwise. It takes the easy route in dealing with the crisis of manhood Key's nebbishy Clarence Goobril faces concerning his wife (played by Nia Long), following the path forged by films like the atrocious “Malibu's Most Wanted” than finding anything interesting to say. The resolution to Peele's romantic subplot with Haddish's Hi-C has a similarly convenient vibe to it, an issue worsened by an overly truncated relationship between the two. Even the humor gets a little too simple from time to time, including one sight repeated gang that is inspired heavily from the film “Neighbors.” For two guys known for comic ingenuity, that comes as a severe letdown.

But there are a few moments when “Keanu” follows through with its bizarre potential and hits some pretty great comedic highs, like a terrific drug trip Key's Clarence undergoes involving an old George Michael music video and a conversation with Keanu's namesake. It’s a strange non sequitur befitting the stars’ sense of humor, as well as an indicator of what the film could be if it was a little less accessible. Then again, it’s impossible to hate a film featuring a cat as sweet as little Keanu.

Review: Three and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 98 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Ask Away

Target audience: People who enjoyed “Key and Peele.”

Take the whole family?: Considering how many dudes get shot up, along with a few scenes at a strip club, it's best to keep the kids at home.

Theater or Netflix?: You can wait to stream it.

Seriously, how cute is that cat?: It is seriously unfair how adorable little Keanu is. Michael Keegan-Key and Jordan Peele released a video in which they evaluate cats for the role, and while the nature of it is silly, the point remains that casting the correct animal is vital to selling the ridiculous premise. Compare that to a film like “A Talking Cat,” whose cat is so uninspiring the movie uses a different cat on its cover.

Watch this as well?: Visit Youtube to catch some clips from “Key and Peele.” Some of the highlights include the “East/West College Bowl” shorts, “Continental Breakfast,” “Substitute Teacher,” and, my favorite because of how bonkers the entire premise is, “Aerobics Meltdown.”

Blood and guts and hardcore punk

Alia Shawkat and Anton Yelchin star in "Green Room." Image courtesy A24.

Punk rock is one of the few artistic genres that comes with a lifestyle. People don’t just listen to punk; they are punk, following a specific aesthetic and engaging in actions considered punk. Such actions usually drawing the ire of someone, for example performing a vulgar anti-skinhead song to a gathering of Neo-Nazis as the band in “Green Room” does with its first song. It's an audacious moment writer/director Jeremy Saulnier uses to tease the possible reason why The Ain't Rights, the band at the center of the film, will have to survive a night against an opposing force of young idiots; there's a certain logic to defiance being a motivation for vengeance, that the proud history of antagonism within punk rock would be the cause of their demise.

But the root of The Ain't Rights problems are less Dead Kennedys and more “Scooby-Doo” in nature, with a few kids finding themselves in the wrong place at exactly the right time. It's a theme Saulnier has explored before in his magnificent “Blue Ruin,” and one he picks up again in the superb thriller “Green Room.” All of a sudden, the members of the gas-stealing punk rock group (composed of Anton Yelchin's Pat, Alia Shawkat's Sam, Joe Cole's Reece, and Callum Turner's Tiger) are trapped in a room with a young woman’s body, a very large man (Eric Edelstein) with a gun, and a scared girl (Imogen Poots' Amber) attempting to escape skinheads.

A premise like that evokes images of bloody carnage set to a hardcore punk score, with body parts flying about wantonly. “Green Room,” to it's benefit, is not that type of film; the presence alone of the great Patrick Stewart (playing Neo-Nazi leader Darcy Banker) assures some level of gravitas and an assurance that this midnight movie doesn't go completely off the rails. Rather, Saulnier and company are far more interested in building up through a slow burn, establishing the dire nature of The Ain't Rights' situation and building on the claustrophobia of being trapped in a room with no way out and no idea what's going on behind the door. It isn't until the stakes are set that the violence commences and Saulnier reveals how far out of their element The Ain't Rights are, and how unlikely it is they'll survive against Banker and his flock.

In a weird way, one can't get much more punk than fighting when the odds of survival are far beyond your comprehension. It's easy to pretend to be punk, to wear grimy jeans and claim Black Flag as the band you'd bring with you to a desert island (a running joke the film). It's much more impressive to prove it and battle against anti-punk ideals like totalitarianism and racial oppression represented by the machete-wielding Neo-Nazis waiting on the other side of the wall. The idea sounds like a fantasy a person might replay in his or her head while bored on a train to work, slaughtering nameless white supremacists and saving the boy or girl – Yelchin or Poots depending on the perspective – from peril.

“Green Room” is too honest to be a fantasy. When reality hits, it strikes hard and with machetes, knives, dogs and shotguns, leaving chaos and ruin in its wake. And it presents such moments with great intensity and with the right amount of graphic to keep it away from camp territory. The way “Green Room” builds up and eventually plays out reflects Saulnier's talents as a filmmaker; it's exceedingly difficult to make audiences gasp at the right moments for the right reasons. Muffled sounds of awe and appreciation popped out quite a bit from viewers who were not expecting to see that amount of blood flow or to see a perfectly executed jump scare in a movie that is not quite a horror film. “Green Room” is a bit too surreal with its dialogue and how it treats its characters to fit into stereotypical horror.

At it's heart, “Green Room” is Saulnier's ode to punk rock. It's a film about fighting the powers that be, about taking on the man with whatever weapons you have at your disposal (usually a guitar, drum set, screaming vocals and mediocre bass player) in a do-it-yourself fashion. The film is rife with ingenuity and a subtle cleverness and brilliance found in the highest ranks of the genre, while being much more complicated than its exterior indicates. And there aren't too many things more punk rock than creating art that's brutal, short, grungy and intelligent.

Review: Four and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 94 minute

Genre: Thriller

Ask Away

Target audience: Midnight film fiends and people who want to see Patrick Stewart break a little bad.

Take the whole family?: A few dog maulings and the general bloody mayhem contained in this film make it a no go for kids.

Theater or Netflix?: An awesome film to watch with a late-night crowd.

How great is Patrick Stewart?: He is nothing less than fantastic in “Green Room.” He’s a ferociously quiet figure whose most dangerous when he's deciphering depicted working his way through the puzzle of the situation. Stewart playing a Neo-Nazi runs against his most well-regarded role as the peaceful Captain Picard, but there are elements of Picard in Darcy Banker; both are smart, capable men whose leadership skills are never in doubt.

Watch this as well?: Director Jeremy Saulnier's “Blue Ruin” is a terrific film in its own right and shares a few themes and a lot of imagery with “Green Room.” Also watch the original “Assault on Precinct 13” directed by John Carpenter and “Mulholland Drive,” which shares a calm surrealness in the dialogue.

'Winter's War' battles against a lack of necessity

Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain star in "The Huntsman: Winter's War." Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

If you squint hard enough you can almost see the charms hidden within “The Huntsman: Winter's War.” It's more often than not light and goofy, rarely laden with that dour weight plaguing the first “Huntsman” film and seemingly happy to drift away into sub-mediocrity. It's a perfectly forgettable film that neither strains brain cells nor the viewer's patience, lasting only a few minutes longer than it ought to but still well short of interminable like, say, another recent blockbuster film featuring rodents and capes.

Any true enjoyment of “The Huntsman” – a title that is technically a misnomer – is rooted in how much one enjoys watching star and titular outdoorsman Chris Hemsworth in action. He's about as close as current cinema has to a galoot; a large, amiable enough fella who works his way through films with a smile and an admirable torso while sporting a horrendous accent that flitters away when he forgets his character has it. To be fair, employing an accent in the first place is silly enough for a movie based on a Teutonic fairy tale existing in what narrator Liam Neeson acknowledges is a fantastical world. Why the filmmakers decided to have native Californian Jessica Chastain adopt a brogue while South African Charlize Theron has nary an accent will never receive a proper answer. And at least Emily Blunt retains her natural speech patterns for once. But back to Hemsworth, an attractive actor who grits his way through a role that never quite works for him. He's never quite robotic or stiff, yet he lacks a certain lightness of being too him to be too charming, as if he's trying a little too hard to be funny to compensate for his physical excellence. Still, there's something inherently sweet about Hemsworth, whose physicality is never bulky enough to be threatening and whose persona is never too serious or self important. He's workmanlike, never strong enough to boost a film but rarely a true detriment to the final product either, the kind of leading man who could be interesting as a character actor down the line once the good looks begin to fade a little.

Hemsworth is fine, as is Chastain, as is Theron in a much weaker role than the evil queen presented in the first film, and as is Blunt as a woebegone ice queen/little sister to Theron's wicked Ravenna. Slightly less fine is everything around them, essentially a movie that never really knows where it's going or what it wants to do with itself. It starts off as a prequel to “The Huntsman,” depicting the origins of Blunt's frosty queen and her hatred of love and how Hemsworth became the eponymous character, or at least one of them along with Chastain and a whole host of child soldiers. Then it segues into a sequel, mostly eliding over the presence of Snow White (and, of course, Kristen Stewart) but still bringing back one of the seven dwarfs (Nick Frost) and eventually adding three more (Rob Brydon, Sheridan Smith and Alexandra Roach), leading to a net negative of three dwarfs. Goblins and faeries are tossed in as well for reasons that may or may not be related to the plot from “The Lord of the Rings” because the writers couldn't come up with a plot of their own.

“Winter’s War” perhaps might have worked as either a prequel or a sequel; combining both is sloppy and requires the frequent insertion of a rather bored Neeson to keep track of what’s happening. This is a very mismatched film, dependent on miscommunication to advance the story. A nice spot of tea would resolve most of the character’s problems, our at least hash out the idea that villains aren’t to be trusted.

And yet “Winter's War” could be much, much worse than it is. The tone is either amiable or solidly campy, especially whenever Theron pops up and excessively emotes and snarls at Blunt and Hemsworth. It's almost disappointing to say this film isn't quite a trainwreck – a complete disaster is a joy on its own – but it doesn't induce bile either, and it'll assume its fate of fading into the nether regions of the memory bank until the commercials for the DVD come out in about four months. At the least, it's not going to disappoint audiences hoping for something resembling greatness from what is slowly morphing into a film franchise; expecting an ant hill and finding a molehill instead has its benefits.

Review: Two out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 114 minutes

Genre: Action

Ask Away

Target audience: People who like Chris Hemsworth as a leading man.

Take the whole family?: Some of the content is a little more shocking than expected, so follow the ratings recommendation.

Theater or Netflix?: Stay at home and stream it if you want to see it.

Does anything disappoint in this film?: The only thing that serves as a proper letdown is what happens to Charlize Theron's Ravenna. She's a complex figure in the first film, tragic and somewhat pitiable given her background and her ambitions. All of the nuance is lost this time though, and the movie even goes out of its way to make her even more sinister because of one truly vile act she technically commits before the start of “The Huntsman.”

Watch this instead?: This one's definitely a blast from the past, but “Ladyhawke” is a pretty fun little knight story with an interesting premise and a very young Michelle Pfeiffer. You could hit up the recent works of the three leading ladies: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Sicario” and “Crimson Peak.”

Director Jeremy Saulnier talks 'Green Room,' Patrick Stewart, and the allure of shooting in the woods

Patrick Stewart, center, stars in Jeremy Saulnier's "Green Room." Image courtesy A24.

Coming off the heels of the spectacular revenge film “Blue Ruin,” writer/director Jeremy Saulnier went in a slightly different direction with his new film, “Green Room,” about a punk rock band trying to survive a night with skinheads. The film features Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat and Imogen Poots as members of the band and a new acquaintance trying to stay alive against the collection of racists led by the charismatic Patrick Stewart.

We interviewed Saulnier over the phone the night after a screening in Boston to discuss the film, including his casting of Stewart, his reasons for shooting in the woods, writing believable dialogue, and finding humor in tense situations. The interview has been edited for clarity and for brevity's sake. A complete, if audibly challenged, recording of the interview is available here.

Q: How did you play with Patrick Stewart's persona? He's best known for his role as Captain Picard on “Star Trek” and from his goofy adventures with Ian McKellen in public, and while there's a tonal shift, he's not that far from being Picard.

Jeremy Saulnier: Of course as an audience member myself I really do appreciate his esteemed career, complexity, association with these big franchises. But it's my job as a director to have blinders on. I did not factor into me casting it; it certainly factored into how our production valued him. But I had to ignore all that. I really had a character in mind when I wrote the screenplay.

I never thought I'd ever get someone like Patrick Stewart to play it, so that was amazing. But when he signed on he acclimated to this world I had built and just trying to stay insulated from everything else. So this is just actor, director trying to come together for a quiet performance.

Q: My favorite moment with him is a line toward the end about how he's not so scary in the light. He's a bogeyman for much of this film for the characters. The characters mostly hear his voice, but when they finally see him they aren't that impressed by him.

Saulnier: Yeah. That was really fun. That line came to me when I was breaking down the script and realized they never actually saw him at all. So I added a little scene, added that one shot where Patrick Stewart is backing away from the door. I love all the kids see is a sliver of him backing away, not in an aggressive pose. That's one of my favorite shots in the film.

It added such a great dynamic to finally confront the aggressor and how mundane he is, how stripped down and human he is. Knowing the carnage Patrick Stewart's character Darcy had put them through makes it all the more horrifying. That was the point of it, how things erupt, how miscommunication and self-preservation can lead to such terrible violence. You actually have to face each other, it's a whole different scenario.

Q: There are definitely elements of horror in this film, and I think one of the ones I noticed with this and “Blue Ruin” is the houses in the middle nowhere are the most dangerous places. The further you get from civilization the scarier things are. On your end, is that something that you perceive from growing up away from the woods?

Saulnier: I grew up in Virginia and it certainly was the suburb, but I've always been attracted to the outdoors. I'm not really scared of them; I just find them visually more interesting than a lot of urban areas. I'm fond of nature and it plays really well on camera. It just happens the movies I make I like them to be isolated environments; it's serves the narrative. Living in a van touring in Oregon, they're on the coast, they're in a cornfield, they're on all sorts of different terrains. I just love the variety of the geography of Oregon. It has mountains and cornfields and coastal areas and rainforests. I think it's more about my visual attraction to those areas that guides me to set some of my films there.

My first film actually is “Murder Party.” It's actually similar in some respects that it's an overnight, contained horror film. It's more of a comedy and it takes place in more of an urban area, in the heart of Williamsburg and Bushwick Brooklyn. So, no matter where I am, I find ways to make it remote and scary even when you're right in the middle of New York City.

Q: Something with the characters remind me of David Lynch. A scene discussing cartridges and bullets reminds me of a moment from “Mulholland Drive” in which there's a weird surreal normalcy. Is that something you see how people would react in that type of situation?

Saulnier: I've never actually seen that movie. But I like to write things to make them human and make them plausible and have the characters really interacting with each other and not to benefit the audience or the narrative in any sort of contrived way. I definitely like to downplay things; if there's a default for me it's extreme situations but subtle performances and grounded emotional character arcs.

When you walk past people or when you're eavesdropping on people on the subway you hear the strangest things and it's fun to kind of take these little slices of life and hear observations in your everyday and inject them into movie. Often times in movies you just have so much artificiality and people don't speak like humans actually do. So it's fun to have the opportunity to design stories and create characters that really adhere to more of observable human behavior, so when you put them on screen they're more relatable. People really find it exciting to have access to real characters and it's easier for them to have characters who are behaving maybe not with a clear logic but meaningful and compulsive manner.

Q: It's also kind of humorous. It's unexpectedly funny.

Saulnier: I love comedy. I like to mine it naturally in the stories I'm telling and not really force it. As long as the characters aren't trying to be funny themselves and the actors aren't forcing it, there are so many opportunities for comedy. I just let them breathe naturally, once in awhile I'll highlight them.

How many times has somebody gone from laughing to crying or crying to laughing? These things are often intertwined and it's about your perspective. I put my characters through hell but it's OK for the audience once in a while to find a little I guess levity here and there.

Q: The one thing I noticed with this and “Blue Ruin” is revenge is a pretty heavy theme. At the end they could have walked away but they opted to continue forward.

Saulnier: There's some sort of indication that did they see all of them die? There's a hint that someone might be alive or there's some unfinished business. But yeah, there's like traditional revenge, but this is more survivor and loyalty; these are the actual victims of the crime. “Blue Ruin” is certainly more traditional revenge and “Green Room” is more survival.

Q: But both have characters who often find themselves out of their element.

Saulnier: It gets complicated.

The very pretty 'Jungle Book' a little light on content

Neel Seethi as Mowgli and Ben Kingsley's Bagheera in "The Jungle Book." Image courtesy Disney.

The frustrating thing with “The Jungle Book” is how much it teases the audience into being an excellent film instead of the good but underwhelming flick it ends up being. It is more often than not a visually stunning, engaging romp featuring a rather good child actor and some excellent voice work from its cast. And yet the problems arrive with a bang, a result of some dreadful decisions coupled with plotting issues that bog down the final act.

Yet another adaptation of Kipling's eponymous story collection, “The Jungle Book” centers on the adventures of feral child Mowgli (Neel Seethi), a so-called man-cub who lives a simple life with his family of wolves – including den mother Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o) and pack leader Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) – and is watched over by wise panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). At least, that is, until the day when vicious tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) proclaims his intent to murder the boy, forcing Mowgli to flee along with Bagheera to a human village. Their plans go awry due to tiger-related shenanigans, and poor Mowgli is left alone to fend for himself in unknown territory, surrounded by hypnotic python Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) and little creatures that steal his food. Fortunately he meets lazy bear Baloo (Bill Murray), who teaches the boy to embrace his human side and adopt a more carefree life. Baloo's teachings put Mowgli in a bit of a moral quandary, and it only gets more complicated once he runs into the sizable King Louie (Christopher Walken) and has to face down Shere Khan one last time.

“The Jungle Book” opens with a bang as young Mowgli scampers toward the viewer, escaping some momentarily unseen entity chasing him through the dangerous jungle. It's a terrific start to the film, hinting at Mowgli's ingenuity and cleverness while showing how he's both embraced and shunted a bit from his adopted family. The film at its best has a lot of these little details, including a running point in which Mowgli picks up a scar or two during every little adventure. It's a nice touch of verisimilitude for a movie that is fantastic by nature and by effect.

The film remains quite charming to a point, which comes out of the blue when Baloo starts singing “Bare Necessities” from the animated film. It’s a distracting moment that unleashes a floodgate of callbacks, lowlighted by a Walken performance of the very racist “I Wanna Be Like You.” That first moment with Baloo singing to himself unleashes a flood of flaws that dampen the viewing experience. The songs hinder the narrative flow, creating a rather rushed third act that also drains much of the film’s dramatic agency, a problem capped by a weak, puzzling and ultimately lazy finale. There’s also the insertion of a secondary revenge motivation involving Mowgli’s father, which highlights “The Jungle Book’s” major problem; writer Justin Marks’ disorganized script.

And yet the whole of “The Jungle Book” is just good enough to outweigh the weaker parts and is helped along greatly by Seethi, who performs more like a child then an actor, especially given that he acts alongside CGI creatures in a fake jungle. And the voice actors inhabiting those ersatz creatures are first rate. Elba is perfectly cruel and blasé as Khan, while Johansson plays a major part in providing what is the film’s best sequence; she has a knack for controlling her voice in a manner both alluring, sweet and subtly terrifying. Even Murray seems to be having a little fun as Baloo, who enters the film is a way Bill Murray enters people’s lives in real life.

Considering how much goes right with it, it’s still difficult not to consider the film at least something of a letdown though. Its flashes of brilliance – even the problematic third act has one really terrific visual moment – are enough to dream of what could have been for director Jon Favreau. Perhaps he and Marks were forced to shoehorn in the music numbers (although it wouldn’t explain why one song returns as an orchestral during a chase sequence) and add in the silly “Star Wars” inspired subplot, making for a more inspired film than what’s left. All that’s left to analyze though is what Favreau and company ultimately delivered; a very good but flawed film that comes very close to being exceptional.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 105 minutes

Genre: Adventure

Ask Away

Target audience: Families with kids old enough to handle a little intensity. Speaking of which...

Take the whole family?: There's way too much going on kinetically and a couple of scary scenes that will turn off kids younger than 5.

Theater or Netflix?: Theater should be OK, but don't pay for the 3D if you have more than a child or two with you.

How racist is this?: Not as bad as it could be given the involvement of Disney and Rudyard Kipling. The main issue is the resurrection of “I Wanna Be Like You,” which in is a song about racial inferiority and efforts to become more “civilized.” It's one of many reasons Disney would have been better served excising the songs from this version.

Watch this as well?: Disney's first crack at Rudyard Kipling's short story collection has its charms, along with a heavy undertone of racism that makes it a little difficult to watch these days. Also flash back to one of those old “Tarzan” films Johnny Weissmuller; considering the Tarzan character is based on Mowgli, it brings things full circle.

'Everybody Wants Some' features beer, brahs and profundity

Blake Jenner and Glen Powell in "Everybody Wants Some!" Image courtesy Paramount Pictures.

It's difficult to find any of the main characters likable for a large portion of Richard Linklater's new film, “Everybody Wants Some!” They are more often than not dumb and brutish, obsessed with alcohol and sex and goofy antics that sometimes devolve to cruelty. Even the film acknowledges these guys are typical dumb jocks treated with fealty by a system that genuflects to their athletic prowess. And then, all of a sudden, these little inklings of melancholy and philosophical musings begin to creep up within what started off as stereotypes and it becomes difficult to avoid falling for these idiots a bit; as many of them realize, life won't be much sweeter than it is for them right now. And, as they figure it, it’s best to not let that opportunity go to waste.

Right now, for the characters in “Everybody Wants Some!”, is 1980 at Southeast Texas University, three days before the start of the first semester for freshman Jake (a charming Blake Jenner). He's a new pitcher for the schools high-caliber baseball program and moves in to a decrepit off campus house with a few teammates. Among this crop of excitable boys is superstar and team captain McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), space cadet stoner/pitcher Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), second baseman Dale (J. Quinton Johnson), the chatty Finn (Glen Powell), and amateur braggadocio Jay Niles (Juston Street). The players spend those three days bar hopping, brawling, hosting an epic party, attending an epic party, making dumb bets, mocking one another, and, for Jenner's Jake, courting attractive coed Beverly (Zoey Deutch).

And, well, that's about it for the plot to “Everybody Wants Some!” It's a pretty typical flick for writer/director Linklater, who spends almost two hours observing the characters waste away the first few days before the school year begins. It's a very long time to spend with people who are, at least on the surface, obnoxious jackanapes obsessed with causing destruction and mayhem wherever they go. This is a privileged class of people on the college campus, a team that, as the players outline, is the only successful program the college has to offer at all. They're effectively the default kings of campus, never required to go to class or have an actual major; their default line when asked about what they study is to state their presence on the team.

It does take a while to get to the full point of sympathy for these guys, so it helps that Linklater shows off his underrated sense of humor to keep the audience invested. Linklater is smart enough to make the puerile jocks the butt of the jokes, whether it's pranks amongst themselves or a female character shooting down sad, pathetic advances toward her. The audience is meant to laugh at them, but not in a particularly mean-spirited fashion either; for all their flaws and grandiose acts of stupidity, Linklater clearly cares for the group of guys he's created.  (Linklater played baseball for Sam Houston State for a couple of years in the early ’80s, adding some autobiographical context to this movie.)

“Everybody Wants Some!” never loses its sense of humor, but it begins to add little clues to offer sympathy for the adult-like devils. Much of it comes from Powell's Finn, who talks endlessly about a litany of topics while dabbling in some legitimate profundity when he isn't trying to talk a girl or two into something or other. He is very cognizant that their life as baseball players will probably end after college, that pro ball isn't in their stars unless they happen to be as gifted as Hoechlin's McReynolds (Linklater demonstrates the gap in talent with a brilliant scene). The saddest moment of the film comes when one player realizes his opportunity has come and gone, and he walks off with one final little wave of philosophy and a peace offering left behind for his former teammates.

Much of what happens in “Everybody Wants Some!” occurs amid a conversation, snuck in so Jenner’s Jake can listen in on the commentary. He’s portrayed as more of an explorer than a traditional baseball player, a person who will eagerly hit up a punk show and compare Sisyphus to baseball while absorbing knowledge and philosophy to prepare for whatever happens tomorrow. It's funny then that his final moment should find him falling asleep in his first class, shortly after the instructor writes “frontiers are where you find them” on the chalkboard and as the somewhat sardonic “Good Times Roll” plays for the audience's benefit. He's embracing his preferred status on campus, cognizant that what he needs to learn will come outside his classroom’s walls.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see a trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 116 minute

Genre: Comedy

Ask Away

Target audience: People nostalgic for other days and Richard Linklater zealots.

Take the whole family?: The film does feature a bit of nudity and a sizable amount of sexual content and swearing. So, probably not.

Theater or Netflix?: I still recommend taking a theater trip for this one, but you can get away with waiting a few months for streaming versions.

Will the soundtrack get stuck in your head?: Let's just say you might load up a few songs on YouTube while working the following morning. “Everybody Wants Some!” just owns the music, from the opening of “My Sharona” to that last song by The Cars before the end credits commence. There is even a cute music video featuring the cast rapping in the style of The Sugarhill Gang during the back end of the roll.

Watch this as well?: “Dazed and Confused,” “Slacker,” and the three entries into the “Before” trilogy offer the best representation of Linklater's sensibilities as a director, along with his proclivity to capture profundity within just a few hours or days.