Hometown Summer is the sophomore feature of writer-director Benjamin Vomastek. The film follows best friends Brian (Benjamin Corsi), Sean (Henry J), and Owen (Ryland Gigante) as they spend their summer days together before heading off to college. Brian just got back from France, so his friends are eager to know all about it. Well, they say that, but in reality, they are far more interested in smoking weed, drinking beer, and throwing parties while attempting to score harder drugs than actually talking. This bothers Brian, but he’s a little distracted, working up the courage to ask Samantha (Joie Culligan) out. Aside from far too many drugs, the trio spends their days attempting to record a podcast and other pointless endeavors.
Hometown Summer is a sitcom. From the very simple camera setups to the basic lighting, on a technical level, this has the appearance of a sitcom. From a story standpoint, the low stakes and very episodic nature of what the boys get up to also make it feel like a sitcom. Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing, as the aim of this comedy and sitcoms is the same: to deliver laughs. So, is the film funny? Yes, often, though it is not without some confusing flaws.
The trio of best friends, Brian, Sean, and Owen, share a moment of confusion and discussion in Hometown Summer
“…[best friends] spend their summer days together before heading off to college.”
The biggest issue is how the narrative jumps through time. At a party, Sean is being his usual idiotic self and breaks a television with a golf club. This is mistaken as gunfire by one character. If that’s meant to be a joke, it doesn’t land, making it seem like extremely bad writing. It doesn’t help matters that the sound design fails to make it seem even remotely gunish. However, that is not the issue at hand. This incident ends the party, and then Owen and Brian are in a house. Then Owen’s dad comes out of the blue and says that Sean surprised him this morning with a new TV and a new vase. When did the day change? Based on the editing, it seems to be a minute or two later. This is a significant issue throughout the 87-minute runtime, as many scenes begin or end abruptly. A sequence wherein Sean sells cocaine to Louis is introduced in a conversation about throwing a party, and then a cut happens. It’s not a fade to black or some such, just a regular simple edit, and this Louis is suddenly in the house. Again, what is going on? A narrative this basic shouldn’t be this confusing to follow, but the editing is so bad that it is.
Happily, Hometown Summer is frequently very funny. Any scene involving Brian’s dad is hysterical, as he never quite gets the real world. Apparently, picking up his son from the airport would lead to Brian being dependent on him for everything. This is some circuitous logic that is consistently funny. The discussion over the “very good microphone” before recording the podcast is hilarious. It certainly helps that the cast all have solid comedic timing, with Culligan and Gigante especially proving their chops throughout.
Hometown Summer is very funny, as any comedy needs to be. However, the technical qualities are not the best, with the editing being particularly abysmal in every way. Still, thanks to some solid writing and a great cast, this is worth watching once.
For more information, visit the official Hometown Summer site.
"…very funny..."
