The Graduates Trailer from Ryan Gielen on Vimeo.

There have been a lot of coming-of-age teen comedies over the years. Not too long ago the genre was reinvigorated with the release of the “American Pie” franchise, and continued with newer films like “Superbad” and, to a point, “Role Models”. “The Graduates” takes the concepts that these movies present and take them in a refreshing, if sometimes nostalgic direction. “The Graduates” is directed and edited by Ryan Gielen and stars a series of fresh faces including Rob Bradford, Mike Pennachio, Laurel Reese, Stephanie Lynn, Max Lodge, and many others. (For more information on the cast of this film, see the movie’s website at: http://thegraduatesmovie.com).

The movie centers around a group of recent high school graduates who go away to Ocean City for their summer break before college. A last hurrah as it were, which includes getting hammered, getting stoned, and getting laid. So far this sounds like your typical teen comedy romp right? Well it is…With a twist. While the only issue I really have with this film is that there are simply too many characters to follow, the lessons that these characters learn and how they grow is done differently then their cinematic brethren. Other teen comedies take a very formulaic route from the beginning of a movie through to the end. This film takes the reality of life and makes it, well..real. The relationships in the movie are deep and complex, if not slightly exaggerated for effect.

The editing of this film is done well, and with a keen eye for the director’s vision of the film. This might have something to do with the fact that the director and editor are one and the same. This is something that happens often in independent film and generally only leads to one of two destinations. Either the movie looks and is edited poorly, or it is done brilliantly (obviously there is some room for discussion here because generally the look of the movie is determined by the cinematographer). In this case the movie looks great, both from an editing and a directorial standpoint. “The Graduates” is lit well, regardless if the scene is shot outside (day or night), or inside an apartment.

The music in this movie completely puts me into the vibe and feel of Ocean City. With a soundtrack featuring bands such as The New Rags, Plushgun, and Sonia Montiez, “The Graduates” has a feel like an 80’s teen summer comedy (ala “One Crazy Summer”), but with an edge that screams of today’s audio styling. There is one issue that I take with the soundtrack, and that is there are a couple of songs I felt that were supposed to be used as an anthem for a specific character (for example, one song plays everytime Annie enters a room). I can see that they were going for a “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” feel to some of the music, but in this case I think that the track was overused. Other than that, the rest of the soundtrack is catchy and worth a download if you get an opportunity. (The soundtrack is available on their website as well).

The acting was very well done with the entire cast playing the part of young, horny, and sometimes drunken characters to a tee…Not that, at their age, was it hard to get that performance out of them one has to assume. The timing and line delivery of one character in particular, Nickie played by Mike Pennachio was done exceptionally well. That particular character would certainly remind anyone of that friend in high school that would always overreact to a situation and never back down from a fight. The group of main male characters might give one pause and make you think “didn’t we just see this movie?”, in reference to recent teen comedies. But in actuality, if they were to sit through this movie they would realize that these characters have more depth to them than anything to come out of the mainstream Hollywood system in the last 10 years at least.

“The Graduates” – You’ve Been Snobbed