Griffin in Summer (dir. Nicholas Colia)

By: Adam Freed

Griffin isn’t like the other recent eighth grade graduates from his school.  Rather than spending his summer frequenting the neighborhood pool or riding bikes with friends, Griffin has dedicated the final months before high school to painstakingly write and produce a stage play.  Nicholas Colia’s Griffin in Summer is a 90 minute coming of age comedy overflowing with heart that ultimately succeeds on the back of its young star Everett Blunck. Griffin is a boy far older than his fourteen years would suggest, a fact that becomes the root of the film’s endearing nature.  As both writer and director, Colia frames his film as a sharply written ode to the arts, and to those born wise beyond their years.

Griffin in Summer does not work unless the titular Griffin is equal parts lovable and dynamic.  Everett Blunck is a revelation as the young aspiring playwright. From the hilarity of an opening scene, in which Griffin offers a one man performance preview of his soon to release rated R play “Regrets of Autumn,”  Blunck’s performance carries what has to be one of the more memorable performances from a child actor in ages.  Like genre predecessor Theater Camp (2023), Griffin in Summer lovingly jabs at theater kid culture while acting more as an homage than critique.  

Griffin in Summer wastes no time in getting to the meat of the story as Griffin's life explodes with possibility when he meets Brad, a neighborhood man, a few years removed from high school, hired by Griffin’s mother to play handyman at their house for the summer.  Quickly Griffin’s interest in the aspiring adult actor evolves as Brad becomes the young playwrite’s muse and as his first full blown crush.  Played by Owen Teague (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, IT) Brad acts as the film's mirror.  In Brad audiences will witness the  result of a muted creative pursuit so often lost in the years separating Griffin’s and Brad’s age.  Griffin pursues his artistic expression with his whole heart, which is what makes him lovable, but Brad, slightly older and hardened by rejection, seems to have placed his theater dreams on the back burner.  Their opposites attract friendship is the stuff of comedic movie magic.  Small in scope but grand in heartwarming comedy, Griffin in Summer is a pure joy as it unlocks the memories of the youthful pursuit of creative endeavors.

Target Score: 8.5/10 With his star making performance, Everett Brunck breathes life into Griffin in Summer.  Nicolas Colia’s film is a coming of age comedy knockout punch as fresh as a summer breeze.

Griffin in Summer was screened as part of Movie Archer’s coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival.