A smart and sweet riff through “Grease,” “Footloose,” “High School Musical” and scads of other upbeat, teen-skewing entertainments, “Best Summer Ever” greatly impress with its deft balance of affectionate homage and exuberant inclusivity. Working from a peppy screenplay they co-wrote with Will Halby, Andrew Pilkington and Terra Mackintosh, directors Michael Parks Randa and Lauren Smitelli keep the mood so beguilingly light and bright, even during brief romantic setbacks, that it’s remarkably easy to suspend disbelief and gratefully delight in a world where racial divides and ableist prejudices are nonexistent, and just about the only negative stereotype on view is a mean-girl cheerleader.
The all-embracing attitude that propels “Best Summer Ever” is on full display right from the start. It’s the last day of the season at Lakeview Dance Camp, as young sweethearts Sage (Shannon DeVido), who uses a wheelchair, and her football-player boyfriend Tony (Ricky Wilson Jr.) lead...
The all-embracing attitude that propels “Best Summer Ever” is on full display right from the start. It’s the last day of the season at Lakeview Dance Camp, as young sweethearts Sage (Shannon DeVido), who uses a wheelchair, and her football-player boyfriend Tony (Ricky Wilson Jr.) lead...
- 4/29/2021
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
Though “Crip Camp” didn’t end up going home with the Oscar on Sunday evening, it’s done plenty toward making people aware of the need for disabled narratives that are positive and happy. For us to see true inclusion, it’s not enough to simply tell disabled stories, but to make disability part of every story. A prime example of that is the new teen musical, “Best Summer Ever.”
The most ambitious feature undertaken by Zeno Mountain Farm, a camp aimed at immersing disabled and non-disabled kids in the arts and the subject of the 2014 documentary “Becoming Bulletproof,” “Best Summer Ever” seeks to break the record for most disabled performers in a film held by 1932’s horror feature “Freaks.” Outside of that,
Tony and Sage had the “best summer ever” after falling in love at dance camp. They part, unsure when they’ll see each other again. Unfortunately, when...
The most ambitious feature undertaken by Zeno Mountain Farm, a camp aimed at immersing disabled and non-disabled kids in the arts and the subject of the 2014 documentary “Becoming Bulletproof,” “Best Summer Ever” seeks to break the record for most disabled performers in a film held by 1932’s horror feature “Freaks.” Outside of that,
Tony and Sage had the “best summer ever” after falling in love at dance camp. They part, unsure when they’ll see each other again. Unfortunately, when...
- 4/27/2021
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
The ReelAbilities Film Festival is set to open with Michael Parks Randa and Lauren Smitelli’s inclusive musical romancer Best Summer Ever, executive produced by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ted Danson, Amy Brenneman, and Mary Steenburgen.
Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard and Benjamin Bratt have cameo roles in the feature shot with a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities and which bowed at SXSW. Best Summer Ever, which also stars Shannon DeVido, Ricky Wilson Jr., MuMu, Jacob Waltuck, Emily Kranking, Ajani “Aj” Murray, Eileen Grubba and Holly Palmer, will screen on April 29 at the Queens Drive-In.
And ...
Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard and Benjamin Bratt have cameo roles in the feature shot with a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities and which bowed at SXSW. Best Summer Ever, which also stars Shannon DeVido, Ricky Wilson Jr., MuMu, Jacob Waltuck, Emily Kranking, Ajani “Aj” Murray, Eileen Grubba and Holly Palmer, will screen on April 29 at the Queens Drive-In.
And ...
- 3/31/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The ReelAbilities Film Festival is set to open with Michael Parks Randa and Lauren Smitelli’s inclusive musical romancer Best Summer Ever, executive produced by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ted Danson, Amy Brenneman, and Mary Steenburgen.
Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard and Benjamin Bratt have cameo roles in the feature shot with a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities and which bowed at SXSW. Best Summer Ever, which also stars Shannon DeVido, Ricky Wilson Jr., MuMu, Jacob Waltuck, Emily Kranking, Ajani “Aj” Murray, Eileen Grubba and Holly Palmer, will screen on April 29 at the Queens Drive-In.
And ...
Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard and Benjamin Bratt have cameo roles in the feature shot with a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities and which bowed at SXSW. Best Summer Ever, which also stars Shannon DeVido, Ricky Wilson Jr., MuMu, Jacob Waltuck, Emily Kranking, Ajani “Aj” Murray, Eileen Grubba and Holly Palmer, will screen on April 29 at the Queens Drive-In.
And ...
- 3/31/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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