HIDDEN ON STREAMING: 'Extracurricular Activities'

Our world has changed so much in the age of technology, evolving social culture, and social media fame that it is almost unrecognizable from how things were even five years ago. Nobody wants to get a regular job anymore. I know I don’t. Given the choice, I’d much prefer to sit around eating candy, playing Candy Crush, and posting on Instagram, while bingeing the latest season of "Riverdale", which was actually pretty solid. We all seek immediate gratification. And now, more than ever, we can get whatever we want, whenever we want.

In the new film Extracurricular Activities, starring Ellie Bamber (Les Miserables) and Colin Ford ("Supernatural"), the story follows Reagan Collins, a straight-A student with a "killer” after-school job: He arranges "accidents". When his classmates' parents become too overbearing, self-obsessed, or just plain inconvenient, Reagan offers to that granted wish… for a price. And business is booming.

Reagan is that fairy godfather for the young people in the community, helping them solve their parental problems and making sure they have the insurance money they need to purchase the life they want. If it sounds messed up, it is. But with the darkness comes a funny, entertaining ride that is as full of twists as it is twisted. It’s got a fresh take on today's youth generation like no other.

Besides the immediacy of the granted wishes and the outrageous notion that killing one’s parents is actually a solid business plan, I was impressed by the depth of the message the seeped through the cracks of the story. The film is really about breaking a cycle that is leading us down a destructive path. The question that keeps popping up is: Who is responsible for this “me first”, homophobic, fat-shaming, environmentally destructive culture we live in?

Extracurricular Activities will make you laugh, cry and take you by surprise. And after the credits roll, it will make you reflect on the cold, hard truths of the world our parents are leaving us to clean up.