If aliens are out there watching our movies, they definitely think high school is some form of purgatory. They might be right. In this new Hulu comedy (releasing June 17), the 2008 class of a small-town high school finds out that they didn’t actually graduate. In their mid-thirties, this group of unhappy people has to return to North Meadows High to complete their last two weeks of school—and their regrets, failed romances, and other tortures are still waiting for them.
Starring John Reynolds, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Carmen Christopher, Jo Firestone, and Gary Richardson, with Topher Grace, Never Change! is an absurdist comedy directed by Marty Schousboe and written by Reynolds that’s about being forced to change and facing demons. It’s also a movie that reminds me that humor is subjective. It’s apt in satirizing the intersections between who these characters hoped to be as teenagers and everything (absolutely everything) that went wrong afterward. Finding its truths in a combination of relatable moments and classic High School movie references, there’s something here that might’ve worked somewhere between Gross Pointe Blank and The Big Chill—maybe even The Four Seasons—all dialed up to the peaks of absurdity.
However, I was not amused. You know that meme where the choir sings, “What the hell!? What the hellie?” I am the meme. The gags keep gagging until they’re a choking hazard. But Richardson’s “Watch this” scene is incredible. And although the cast is up for whatever and the filmmakers go full stream-of-consciousness while telling a cohesive story, I wanted to spit this movie out. I admire what they’re going for but…Yeah, I think we’re done here.
