What were you doing in the summer before starting high school? For me, it was like most summers, a combination of baseball games, tennis camp, video games, Wiffle ball, anything and everything as long as I was doing it with friends. But the one thing definitely not on my mind? Finding a job. I still had an open, carefree, (relatively) responsibility-free summer vacation. That’s generally how it was for most of my friends.
But whatever that summer consisted of for you, I’m sure it was an important few months in your life. Starting a new school in the fall, maybe the first time losing touch with friends that you’d gone to school with for so many years (for me, and those around my age, at least, this was before everyone had a cell phone and we were still in the Myspace days of social media, making it much harder to see and keep up with friends that you didn’t go to school with or didn’t live within biking or walking distance). To varying degrees, it was sure to have been a formative time for all.
Snack Shack, from writer/director Adam Rehmeier, hit all these feelings nearly perfectly. While the main characters, A.J. (Conor Sherry) and Moose (Gabrielle LaBelle) have different priorities than I may have had at that age, the overall vibe felt very similar.
Set in Nebraska City in 1991, Snack Shack follows the best friends as they plan ways to bankroll their summer. That’s what they do: they hustle. As summer begins, they seem to have everything all set. They have a knack for betting at the dog tracks, using their profits from selling their home-brewed beer. But when their parents find out and (obviously) put a stop to that, they’re left scrambling. But a golden opportunity falls into their lap when they win a bid to run the snack shack at the local pool. It seems like a guaranteed money-maker, and their plans are back on track just like that.
But another wrench gets thrown into their plans with the arrival of Brooke (Mika Abdalla), a visiting cousin of A.J.’s neighbor. He’s immediately crushing hard, but is too shy to do anything about it. He never talks to Moose about this, and Moose makes his move, and the two start dating. With things already getting tense, Brooke lifeguarding at the pool, only adds more.
Maybe the best and smartest thing Snack Shack does it keep its stakes low. That quick plot description above? That’s pretty much it. And it should be that way. Moose and A.J. are two teenagers in the 90s in Nebraska, hanging out, wanting to do their own thing for their summer break. Grand scheme of things, it’s not that serious. But that’s part of the magic of an effective coming-of-age story.
The stakes may not matter a year later, much less even three months later. But in the moment, it’s all that matters. It’s their lives, right then and there. Nothing else is more important to them than the now. It’s so simple, but when handled correctly, it’s beautiful. Slice of life movies like this work best when they remain grounded in reality. You can completely believe that everything that happens to every character could have actually happened to any random teenager or other person in Nebraska City during the summer of 1991. There’s an authenticity there that you can’t fake.
The other piece I came away impressed with was how Rehmeier handled the larger themes. There’s never a line where a character says, “Everything is going to be different next year because of “generic reason,” so we have to make this summer count.” He lets his characters’ actions and reactions speak for themselves. It’s a level of restraint not every writer or director would have. But it makes everything so much better.
And it helps when the cast is beyond up to the task. LaBelle shines in his follow-up to 2022’s The Fabelmans. He’s the more crass and aggressive of the friends and LaBelle starts off high-energy and keeps it the entire time. It’s a very different role than The Fabelmans, but still showcases a huge breadth and depth of talent. Sherry balances him out perfectly, as the more level-headed friend, who has more on his mind than just money and girls (maybe not *much* more, but more). The two work great together, and you can buy into their friendship from the first second they’re on screen together.
Abdalla is perfectly capable as Brooke, but she’s a pretty one-dimensional character. Her dad is in the army, so she has to move around a lot. There’s one scene where she briefly talks about how difficult that can be, but unfortunately there’s not a lot of time spent there. But she also works great with both LaBelle and Sherry, so this only holds the movie back so much.
As enjoyable as Snack Shack is, there are a few weaker points that prevent it from being even better. The first, and least significant, is the inclusion of two local bullies. This is the only instance where it felt like Rehmeier was marking something off the “coming-of-age movie checklist.” It seemed like they were only included because the movie thought it needed to include them. They’re not the main antagonists of the story. They could have been dropped and nothing would have changed. Not much screen time is spent with them, so it’s not the worst thing, but their scenes feel awkward and out of place.
There’s also a certain story decision in the third act that felt completely unnecessary. At least there were some hints leading up to it, so it wasn’t totally out of left field. But it wasn’t needed. The kind of impact this part was going for could have been filled in with the resolutions of other plot lines. This one ended up being more jarring than anything, stunting the effect of the intending impact.
Lastly, the tone isn’t always the most well-balanced. Snack Shack is a pretty funny movie, but most of the jokes are front-loaded into the first half, with the second half getting more serious. I think it would have worked better had it gone either all-in on the raunchy(ish), bigger humor, or had both halves a mixture of funny and serious. It feels almost like two different movies at times.
Snack Shack takes a well-known setup and manages to put its own spin on it all. It’s the little things that make the difference. Having A.J. and Moose be 14, heading into high school, rather than 18 and leaving high school, for example. There’s no big, looming event these two are worried about. Take Superbad. Seth and Evan are going to different colleges, and they’re both scared to confront that. But here, it’s just two best friends going through the usual steps of growing up.
The few drawbacks I highlighted to bring it down some, of course. But there’s so much good here, and in a setup that I’m a complete sucker for. If I had the resources and creative juices to make movies, this is a blueprint for almost exactly the type of movie I would want to make.
Grade: B+
Snack Shack releases in theaters March 15.
