Something Like Summer (2017)

So much average

Pretty Good

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

The introduction was awkward but as it progresses it becomes better. The plot was loose but the character development was strongest. Benjamin became this desperate person who ends up to not wanting anymore. Tim was a person who is still learning about his identity. Allison and Jace were static characters but their whole role was to support Benjamin. I didn't like the movie at first but when the characters matured it was easier to watch. Another comment is the music. The songs are good but transitioning into the songs is a bit messy and is not your average musical.

An attractive, likable cast made it all bearable and, at times, enjoyable, but most of the twists and turns in the story were predictable, derivative and tedious.There also seemed to be numerous, awkward moments when, out of nowhere, a musical number was inserted in a startling, cringe worthy way. Rather than enhancing the story line, most of them were intrusive, barely relevant and uncomfortable.While the whole movie was creeping over the line into soap opera territory, the final twist & turn removed all doubt.It is probably still worth watching, but by the end you may be asking yourself, "what the hell just happened."

I gave it a 7/10 because Davi Santos who played Tim really brought this movie together for me. This is someone who has not read the book series and I plan on reading it later on. I only found out about it through this movie and a LOT of people say its great, but there are still mixed reviews on the book being over hyped. However, I won't judge a book I haven't read. So here's a point of view from someone who has never read the novels.The movie had some great aspects and had some (better left out) parts. The better left out parts, I would have to utterly agree, was the musicals. I'm not a fan of musicals but I will watch them and delve into their authenticity. The problem with this one was some of the beats were off, they did some erratic, and there was a couple of time I saw the crewmen's shadows and personally that just bothered me. I think the movie would have gotten a solid 10 if the musicals were cut out.I'm not sure how Ben comes off in the book, but I really do think that Ben and Tim in this movie (basically the actors) had great chemistry on set. I didn't see this with the third lead character aka Jace. He was a nice put it but I didn't see the same connection so his story was a little dry even though the actor did a great job.The best parts about this movie was the color progression throughout the years and how it changed according to their age. I also think Davi Santos, like I mentioned before, brought the substance of this movie together, specifically with his eye movements. He knows how to bring in emotions with his eyes and follow the camera spot on. He gave me a better connection to the character than anyone else did. On top of that, I have to say that I loved the instrumental pieces in this movies. They were cued at the right time, and really went hand in hand with the substance of the movie.But yes, unfortunately, I really didn't care for the musicals. They could have strayed their attention away from that area. It was just too erratic and too dry for me. I was about at a 5/5 when I first saw this movie because I'm not sure if the Ben character is like this in the book, but he really didn't seem to get the point of view of Tim who didn't get that same support in any way from his parents. And it bothers me that this was never really mentioned except for one measly scene that was gone in a second. And the movie ended without that ever being brought up. I mean, Ben called him a coward, but he was shaped that way because of his parents upbringing and it takes a while for a person to free themselves from that way of thinking. If the movie delved into that aspect a little more, I could ignore the musicals and give it a solid 10/10. The second time I watched it, I ignored the musicals (lol) and studied the actors and the focus on their role. That's when I had to bring this up to a 7/10. It has a really good storyline with some choppy build up during middle scenes, but the best part is the beginning and then end for me. The end really tied together a nice scene that wasn't too pushy to the audience.

This movie gave me a lot of feelings and not one of them was positive. The two hours (six because I kept pausing to vent) I spent watching this were an exercise in frustration. This should not have been two hours long. It doesn't have enough substance to warrant that length.Full disclosure: my main source of irritation with this film stems from the lead character, and I'll admit that it's in large part due to the actor. None of the acting in this film is stellar but his was the weakest for me(except for act II where Tim suddenly starts talking like Mr. Darcy in P&P). Needless to say that I didn't like Ben; found him completely un-rootable. We're meant to sympathize with him, admire his courage at being out in high school while living in a conservative town, but I couldn't muster even that. This is supposed to be a story about growth, which visits the main pair at 3 different points in their lives, but while Tim did change/grow, I felt like Ben stayed the same. As the "good" one of the two, I guess that we're supposed to look at it as Tim "growing" to get to Ben's level of self-acceptance, which he did, but Ben is a flawed, inherently selfish character who could've done with considerable growth himself and unfortunately we didn't get to see that.It took me a while to put my finger on it but this felt like one of those films that's intended to be a vehicle to launch an actor's career, to show how special and talented he is. Or one of those self-indulgent ones where the director/writer also assigns himself a lead role regardless of his ability to act. Mulligans comes to mind, probably because I watched that recently. But even that guy, with his two facial expressions and monotone voice, didn't annoy me this much. I wasn't aware going in that this was also a musical so the first time Ben burst into song, I was taken aback. It was hard to take his performances seriously, however, since every time he did the scene "froze" yet you could see the other actors struggling not to move and blinking rapidly. It was very distracting. Also, while Ben/Grant can indeed sing, I wasn't fond of his voice and I don't think the songs accomplished what the director intended.Long story short, I personally would not recommend this film. By halfway through, I didn't care whether the two ended up together or not. I actually felt like Tim could do better but then I decided maybe it was best that they be together to save anyone else the misery of having to date them. The fact that someone literally had to die for them to come together in the end just cemented my dislike of the film, especially since that person was perhaps the nicest and most likable character in the film.