Summerland

By:  Lisa Steinberg

Summerland showcases chill vibes, comedic antics, striking scenery and the promise of adventure that will send you into overdrive.

The film by directors Lankyboy opens up with Bray (played by Chris Ball) who is chatting to a guy named Shawn (Dylan Playfair) whom he has met through a Christian dating website.  Bray clearly hasn’t been honing his catfishing skills because he just has been saving photos of an attractive teenage girl to his profile and uploading them passing them off as himself.  Nev and Kamie from MTV’s “Catfish” would be shaking their heads at this amateur hour as they easily would be able to expose Bray.  We learn that Bray and Shawn, who Bray is convinced is questioning his sexuality, have a plan to meet up in a few days at a music festival called Summerland.  Bray’s best friend Oliver (Rory J. Saper) decides that he’s going to get his friend there come hell or high water as he needs one last hurrah before he has to head back to England in two weeks since his Visa is ending. The only problem is he has a lack of transportation after getting pulled over by the police.

No problem. Remember that attractive teenage girl that Bray has been using for his Christian dating profile photo? It turns out that she’s real, her name is Stacey (played by Maddie Phillips)…and by the way she’s actually Oliver’s girlfriend.  Stacey has no idea that Bray has been using her photo to reel Shawn in or that Oliver is going to be abandoning her imminently. Oliver desperately tries to convince Stacey to let them use her family’s RV in order to help get Bray to his Summerland hookup. Stacey is worrisome and wary, but eventually relents and on their road trip they go!

The movie shifts as we learn that life is a highway, as the song says, in more than one way. The trio’s trip wouldn’t properly start if Oliver didn’t stock pile drugs from a dealer that he makes a sloppy exchange with while they are driving. When the group pulls off to a camp site and partakes in their stash by downing some mushrooms, this is where the film begins tripping – on a lot of levels. As the group gets closer to their destination, they get off at rest stops and end up being part of a robbery by a guy wearing a luchador mask holding a wooden plank as his weapon, attend a party which takes a dark turn, self-sabotage and much more.

This coming of age comedy is filled with disasters, drug induced dives, heartbreaks and introspection. The landscape, scenery and soundtrack are a huge part of what sets the tensions, tone and timeline in the film. Getting to take the scenic route with these three becomes a character in itself that showcases possibilities as well as offers raucous thrills, high times and a look at our own self-worth.  Maddie Phillips gives her character Stacey a great layered longing and vulnerability, but we don’t get enough from Stacey who seems more like a willing participant only to pacify her boisterous boyfriend. She is underused and her character ends up never being fully fleshed out nearly enough. Ball and Saper’s banter and shenanigans are really what kicks the film and keeps us tagging along. These two have a way of pushing each other’s boundaries while sticking their singular strides with their polarizing copious charisma. However, the film doesn’t build up fulfillment for any of the trio, but especially Bray who is supposed be learning about self-love along the way.  This idea and the setup of him tricking Shawn into realizing his homosexuality doesn’t exactly match up and whatever lesson should be learned doesn’t come soon enough. The entanglements we see the characters get into are amusing, but don’t put all of the pieces of the puzzle together to find the sweet spot where you understand anyone’s motivations and what propels these tumultuous teens. The viewer ends up feeling mostly like a passenger begging, “Are we there yet?”

Summerland is a great escape, but stalls in the navigation of the drive for its plot. The film is out on VOD starting September 14th on iTunes, Vudu, GooglePlay land Amazon in all English-speaking territories.