Hot Summer Nights is a 2018 drama about a boy who comes of age during a summer he spends in Cape Cod.
I’m not sure why – beyond the aesthetics of the title – but I was reminded momentarily of Matt Dillon‘s 80s classic The Flamingo Kid when I started watching Elijah Bynum‘s debut flick Hot Summer Nights. It’s a superficial comparison but in cinematic terms sort of shows a long scale degree of evolution in a theme, where a boy finds himself in a new environment that changes everything. Unfortunately, this movie subscribes to a modern trend of escalating ascension that steers it far from the charms of more simpler possibilities, so instead, despite some flashy and well-made moments, arrives lacking the larger punch it feels primed to deliver.
As the summer of 1991 rolls about, young Daniel (Timothée Chalamet) is still reeling from the death of his father and as such, is sent to Cape Cod to stay with relatives to help him see through it. It’s not long before he encounters Hunter (Alex Roe), who is a small time drug dealer in the tourist trap of a town, luring Daniel into the trade. The two make a solid team with money steady, which has Daniel hungry to make more, pushing his new partner to go bigger. This naturally leads to trouble, but along the way, Hunter develops a thing for Amy (Maia Mitchell) the daughter of local cop Sergeant Calhoun (Thomas Jane), while Daniel hopes to catch the favor of Hunter’s edgy sister McKayla (Maika Monroe), struggling to keep it secret.
There’s a lot that looks good here, and there’s not a bad turn from anyone in the cast, it’s just the film is not much more than recycled hot spots from much better movies. Sure, Bynum, who also wrote the script, develops some terrific moments and generates great interest with some highly-charged characters, it’s that it can’t sustain it and does very little that’s all that innovative. We’ve done this many times before.
There’s a lot of pots simmering on the stove here, with Hot Summer Nights trying to arc Daniel through a whole host of standards, from the loss of his father, to his first love, to trust in a friend, and then of course, being a criminal. It’s narrated by a late entry character who is telling the story in a kind of hyperbolic hearsay, leading to a stormy finale. The best parts of this are with Daniel’s relationship with McKayla, a girl with a reputation who has a few raw feelings of her own, which has Daniel hooked despite his worry that it will wreck his partnership with her brother. It’s just too bad Monroe isn’t given more time to develop beyond a superficial trope.
Bouncing around a bit, the film is populated with great talent, with Jane hitting some highs and the always dependable William Fichter going full Alfred Molina from Boogie Nights as a drug kingpin named Shep. It’s good stuff, even if it’s wobbling on a thin line of homage.
Stuffed to the rafters in 90s nostalgia, Hot Summer Nights is a film doing battle with itself, not quite handling the criminal mischief and the romance as well as it needs. Still, Bynum has some style behind the camera and for those new to the genre and unfamiliar with where the movie gets inspiration, might find it a shot in the arm.