Everyone loves a good Coming of Age story but not all coming-of-age stories are the same. This genre of movies allows adults to relive those precious teenage years vicariously through the actors on screen,  especially if the story is set in the period that you grew up in.

Snack Shack is a movie that was crafted by Writer and director Adam Carter Rehmeier who wanted to invite the audience into a window of what it was like for him growing up in a small town in Nebraska during the early 1990s. The problem with writers inserting their own experience into the story is that not everyone is going to identify with your experience and if the audience fails to sympathize with your narrative then your movie becomes a lame duck.

Snack Shack is a film that is set In Nebraska City Nebraska About two juvenile delinquent young boys Named AJ and Moose.  The boys do what every Americanized Storyteller assumes 14-year-old boys do as they’re growing up.  They ditch school,  they smoke cigarettes when their parents aren’t looking,  they curse like sailors,  and their interests are what you expect a 14-year-old to be.

One day the duo gets an opportunity to make some money by buying a city-owned snack shop at the local municipal pool.  Despite overspending for the Shack by $3,000,  the boys take the responsibility of fixing up the shack and making it the go-to Summer Spot for the whole town.  Then starting to go well into a girl causes inner conflict with their dynamic as both AJ and Moose have the hearts for Brooke in deciding who gets to take the girl home to end up destroying their friendship.

The biggest flaw with Snack Shack is the fact that the film doesn’t know what it wants to be.  Well, the film isn’t quite degenerate enough to be considered along the lines of a Seth Rogen-style comedy with young boys,  the dialogue in the language of the film does not put it in anything that a family would consider to be wholesome entertainment.

The teenagers in the story dropped more f-bombs than what is necessary for a film that didn’t need a Rating, to begin with. This is not one of your typical 1980s sex comedies with over-the-top innuendos and gratuitous nudity.  Because of this, the film misses an opportunity to be embraced by a more wholesome audience looking for family-friendly entertainment showing that the film doesn’t quite know who its audience wants to be.

The characters in AJ and Moose are our protagonists but even for 15-year-old boys, they come off as two unlikable to have an emotional connection with the viewers.  Adding the character of Brooke into the dynamic does not help matters as she comes off as more off-putting than the two boys which leaves you with a film with three characters that are essential to the story that have a major likeability problem.

You have to wonder whether Adam Rehmeier was so concerned about being authentic to his real-life upbringing in the state of Nevada that he cared more about telling his story than telling a good story.  There are elements to the film to like and you do have to keep the perspective that you are wanting, a couple of dumb teenage boys making dumb teenage boys mistakes.

There are messages to be had here about family and friendship however the vessel of this film to deliver those messages ended up being a vain mission that fell short of its goal. For many people who experience their teenage years in the early 90s like our characters in the film, there may be an element of nostalgia for you and for those who are mischievous as these kids will find themselves looking in the mirror.

However, outside of a handful of Generation X kids, Snack Shack is a film that is going to strike out with the vast majority of moviegoers because the film cannot commit to an audience that wants to Pander to.

2/5

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