Coming-of-age is a genre as old as time, and at this point, it’s a challenge to impress with the same stories over and over again. Hot Summer Nights is the combination of an old-fashioned coming-of-age tale mixed with teenage crime, Summer romance, and smoking for the first time in the Summer of 1991. Hot Summer Nights has a secret ingredient, though, that gives the story its flavor, and that is none other than Timothée Chalamet-- not (only) because he is gorgeous, but because his acting is the definiton of a perfect coming-of-age performance.
Timothée Chalamet’s character, Daniel, is a loner teen vacationing in Cape Cod in the early-'90s, where he falls in love, discovers weed for the first time, and, with the help of a "bad news" friend, finds himself selling drugs in the midst of Summer. Chalamet is known for his natural acting that almost makes every scene feel like he is just being himself. He brings to life a clueless teenage boy trying to come of age while being so unknowingly funny without forcing it. From the moment he first gets high to the moment he attempts to make a dad joke to the girl he likes in the car, Timothée’s portrayal of Daniel is the reason I need to go back and watch this film at least once in every two months.
A coming-of-age story is as relatable as its teen characters. There are no perfect teens, who always get it together or make no mistakes -- that is a myth and not at all authentic. The best element of Hot Summer Nights is the inclusion of dialogue and scenes that don’t flow smoothly between the characters, which makes the scenes, yes, a little slow and longer than the norm, but also creates an intimate narrative allowing the character chemistries to feel organic and beliavable.
The scene where Chalamet is telling a "giraffe joke" in the car -- the best scene from the film, if you ask me -- is the first time Daniel slowly comes out of his shelf and seems goofy in the most awkward way, and also hilarious for making a pretty mediocre joke sound 10 times funnier than it was. Him being so unnecesarily nervous about the joke, taking way too long to even start the joke, and messing up for being too excited is funnier than the actual joke itself. The entire moment comes off as so natural that I actually believe Timothée was improvising throughout the monologue and he was the one starting the joke over, not Daniel.
Alongside Chalamet as Daniel, the film stars Alex Roe as Hunter, Maika Monroe as McKayla, and Maia Mitchell as Amy.
Trust me, this might be the perfect Summer night film to watch and appreciate an hour and forty seven minutes -- to be exact -- of Lil Timmy Tim smoking and making brilliant jokes in 1991 Cape Cod.