Hot Summer Nights first premiered over a year ago at SXSW, and was just released into certain theaters around the U.S. last month. This A24 film follows a teenager named Daniel (played by the talented Timothée Chalamet) as he gets wrapped up in the world of drugs during a summer in Cape Cod.
Now, for anyone who knows movies, an A24 film starring Chalamet sounds like a match made in heaven. Lady Bird was just that: an extremely successful and beautiful coming-of-age movie that premiered in 2017 starring Timothée as Kyle. And A24 movies always seem to bode well with critics; The Florida Project, Moonlight and the newly released Eighth Grade have all done very well.
So why does everyone seem to hate Hot Summer Nights? Do a quick Google search, and the dislike of this film is apparent. The New York Times calls this film “trite and sexist, ” and Rotten Tomatoes critics seem to agree with their 47% rating (just a few days ago, it was a 38%.)
Movie critics are a lot more informed than me, and probably have a good education to back their stance on this movie. That being said, I actually enjoyed this movie. Sure, it’s definitely not my favorite film Timothée has starred in, and the plot seems to drag at times, but I never found myself completely uninterested. There’s drama; Daniel falls for his friend’s sister McKayla and hides it from him. On top of that, Daniel makes some pretty bad decisions involving drug dealing, which keeps the audience on their toes. It’s also funny, at times, as Danny awkwardly tries to win McKayla over, or when he gets a little too high.
This film is definitely not the best in the world. Its nothing too memorable, and there isn’t any amazing message that comes out of it either. But that’s okay because not all movies need to be amazing. Maybe that’s what critics look for, but as an 18-year-old, sometimes I just like movies that are meant to be fun, and not taken so seriously.
So, with all that being said, if you have a more critical eye when it comes to movies, then maybe this isn’t the right movie for you. But if you’re like me, and sometimes you just want a fun movie with nice visuals, a little bit of romance, and your favorite actor – Hot Summer Nights might be your next movie to check out. It’s playing in select theaters now and is also available on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.
