Snack Shack is one of 2024’s under the radar gems. In a different time it could’ve been a crowd pleaser that built word of mouth into a solid theatrical run before becoming a staple of home viewing. Basically, it could’ve been a hit along the lines of Superbad. Definitely not as huge as Superbad, but Snack Shack operates in a similar vein. It’s a fun, profane throwback with enough heart to make it stick.
Set in the early 90s, the film follows the antics of best friends A.J. (Conor Sherry) and Moose (Gabriel LaBelle) over a summer. A.J. And Moose are hustlers, always on the hunt for their next score. They bet on horses, brew their own beer, play cards, whatever they can think of. They’re brash and cocky in that way you can only truly be when you don’t know anything about the real world yet. That leads them to blowing a chunk of A.J.’s college fund to rent the titular snack shack at the local pool for the summer.
Snack Shack is a coming of age movie, so you already know the beats the movie is going to hit before the script gets to them. The care-free partying will give way to responsibilities, girl drama, drama drama, and (some) maturation. Writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier knows that the audience knows what these kind of movies entail, and he dutifully delivers. The thing that elevates the movie is performances. Sherry and LaBelle have tremendous chemistry, and they bring a level of gleefulness to the dialogue that proves endearing. They carry the film, with plenty of support from the rest of the cast. That includes Mika Abdalla, Nick Robinson, David Costabile, and Gillian Vigman.
Abdalla plays Brooke, A.J.’s neighbor and love interest. Brooke is kind of a thankless character, but Abdalla gives her life. Same goes for Robinson as Shane, an older friend of A.J.’s and an Army vet. Both characters are there to further the development not A.J. But, the performances are good enough to make the characters feel three dimensional. Costabile and Vigman play A.J.’s parents, On paper the roles feel perfunctory, but, again, the performances elevate the material.
Rehmeier clearly has an affection for the genre and that comes through in the storytelling. It delivers plenty of laughs and enough heartfelt moments to set it alongside the better teen movies of recent times. Snack Shack is one of the most purely fun and entertaining movies to come along in 2024.
Snack Shack is currently streaming on Amazon Prime
