It's the late 1980s in Syracuse, New York. 16-year-old Simon (Maxwell Jenkins, Arcadian) lives in a strict Mormon household, slowly suffocating under the weight and pressure of expectation and a faith he doesn’t particularly share. I don’t know about you, but I grew up around a fair amount of Mormons and the kids I knew tended to be either largely line-towing or the wildest ones at the party, frequently members of the same family. While not total maniac, Simon skews toward the latter. He smokes and drinks and wants to hang out with girls, which is what kicks off the plot. In his parents’ view, one sin is as bad as another, so he might as well try them all.
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In pursuit of a girl he just met, Simon convinces his pals—Cure superfan Tim (Ben Cockell, Night of the Reaper), movie obsessive James (Jaylin Webb, Armageddon Time), jock Chris (Jeremy Ray Taylor, It), and horny slacker John (Aidan Laprete, The Pitt)—to sneak across the border to Canada. This ill-conceived plan, as you might imagine, does not go smoothly.
The plot plays all the teen movie hits. They get robbed, they bicker, simmering interpersonal conflicts boil over, they have adventures, there are tears, there are laughs, they have both the best and worst times of their lives. These kids have big dreams and sparse prospects, and are awash in the foolishness of youth while drowning in the crush of reality. They contend with religious hypocrisy and terrible parents, all while searching for their dare to be great moment. It’s thrilling and exhilarating, but it also kind of sucks in the in-between times, like every road trip.
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The script from Grant and Micheal Simon Baker doesn’t rewrite the formula, but it tinkers with familiar tropes and conventions now and again. Like how manic-punk-rock-dream-girl Misty (Katie Douglas, Clown in a Cornfield), doesn’t immediately swoon at Simon’s grand romantic gesture. This shakes his whole romantic world view, which is based entirely on what he’s seen in the movies. Again, it’s not a wide departure, but little things of this ilk help give the film a personality of its own.
Your mileage may vary when it comes to the vintage ‘80s setting. Outside of a few plot necessities, like having to detective out a phone number with only a few clues, fashion choices, and as an excuse for a truly bonkers series of needle drops—the soundtrack features The Cure, New Order, The Housemartins, and tons more—it’s largely inconsequential. The obsessive talk about the saccharine half-truths and manufactured romance of John Hughes movies, Say Anything, and similar touchstones of teen angst and longing, can grow tiresome. Also, these conversations feel like the product of a later time, looking back at these artifacts with the benefit of hindsight, experience, and perspective, rather than discussions they were having in the moment. It’s not a huge issue, unless you hate ‘80s nostalgia, but you can help but wonder if it was a necessary choice.
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Like its protagonists, This Too Shall Pass meanders around, aimless at times, which is both a strength and a weakness. It allows us to sit with these characters and let them develop. All the young actors are fantastic, and should be on their way to much greater things. This is especially Jenkins and Douglass, who have wonderful chemistry. Everyone gets the space they need to become more than a quick, generic type, and they all have much more interesting things going on than immediately meets the eye. On the other hand, this also means other elements are left to wither on the vine. For instance, nothing really resolves between Simon and his overbearing father, and that thread, among others, is left dangling. You get the impression there was more there in the script or a longer edit, but that it was cut for time.
I’m also not sold on one big narrative choice. Most of the movie is framed as Simon in the back of a police cruiser, telling his story to a curious cop (Chris Sandiford, Thanksgiving), essentially serving as the voiceover narrator after the fact. It ultimately pays off in the end, but as it happens, it’s clunky and intrusive. The trick disappears for long stretches, and when it pops back in, it’s awkward and distracting, and the pace suffers because of it. It’s an element that probably sounded good on paper, but that is often more of a distraction on screen than a boon.
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Any stumbles and missteps along the way are relatively insignificant and easily forgiven if you let yourself get swept along. There’s a reason stories like This Too Shall Pass still resonate. It’s about friendship, discovering who you are, and navigating a turbulent time in life, where everything meant so much more. Every kiss was an epic love story, every petty squabble a major battle, every minor emotional wound a tragedy for the ages. Things were somehow both simpler and more complicated at the same time. It’s all very earnest and sweet, joyous and heartbreaking. Also, Michael Ironside shows up for an extended cameo, so what’s not to like? [Grade: B]
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