18 to Party (2024)

18 to Party

A crucial aspect of teenagehood is waiting for maturity to set in, thus anxiously. This is a realization shared by those 8th graders who feed on “18 to party” screen time as they crowd around a nightclub where an older bunch of teens have been allowed in. It sometimes makes sense to spend the whole afternoon just to attempt getting inside to know how being slightly older feels.

It’s the year 1984 and the paradise’s name appears to be that of a small nightclub, full of smoke and jangly guitar riffs whenever its door is opened. Nevertheless, this stand-and-talk movie from writer/director Jeff Roda deals with this other line at the back which seems more like a back lot than anything else and consists of eighth graders still too young for admittance.

The geeks are here, namely Dean (Nolan Lyons) and Peter (Sam McCarthy), whose first argument in the film involves technology. Such an enormous class might also include Missy (Taylor Richardson) whose recent social status downgrade doesn’t make sense (her “friend” used her for a ride and ditched) and she listens to U2 through headphones.

Then, there are the weirdos like Kira (Ivy Miller) and James (Erich Schuett), who barely speak. Both of them have some kind of angst against society and Ronald Reagan, while “BEAT THE RICH” is a graffiti behind them. Kira especially is stuck on a newspaper she once found in a trashcan, she just puts it down wherever she wants. She doesn’t have time for social pleasantries and she calls others “pop tarts.”

It’s too many people perhaps even too many considering that this story isn’t ending at places where we didn’t expect or defying our notions about high school stereotypes in films or real life. In addition to that, the movie makes matters worse by giving us small glimpses of what older kids were doing as they waited outside the movie theater.

They are sometimes used as interstitials by Roda when they walk up to the line or slow motion later in the film accompanied by The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Set Free.” But these things are misleading we don’t know who these former eighth graders were except for how they dressed and did their hair. Nor do we get inside the club at all, because it is designed very similarly to Waiting for Godot. These older extras show off a detailed production design that conveys the period of 1984, but it becomes a distraction to the story as we continually wonder what fun they’re having.

Roda’s energy building script is literally out of focus but one character appears to take precedence; he is Shel played by Tanner Flood with remarkable precision. He wears completely white shoes so his friends will think he’s cool; however his slightly older buddy Brad (Oliver Gifford) does not set him straight about his association with Brad whatsoever.

There’s no better example than Shel from any eighth grade class an average teenager fearful of screwing up on pop quizzes like the former one he had (failing it at three out of five, “That’s almost next to perfect,” he honestly said as any eighth grader would). Yet “18 to Party” has Shel’s attitude towards encounters with his classmate and crush, Amy (Alivia Clark), who is trying her best to convince him of joining the school drama club. This is an honest subplot that even takes them away from the lot into a construction site during magic hour but it does not make the screenplay more interesting.

Therefore, “18 to Party” is a stagnant story about young people wanting freedom; however, there are a few good moments when adult life comes in and the kids fail to understand. Some people in town may be considering suicide together or they could have seen UFO’s, which seem interesting for their parents. Their talks revolve around possible answers to these weird happenings though none of them display personal significance. For example, when they hear loud excavator machinery just over the parking lot fence and gaze upward at it as if they are in a Spielberg film you can feel wonderment.

And then Lanky shows up. Played by James Freedson-Jackson in a way that gives off freshness and ease about him. He appears sporadically throughout scenes of “The 18th Birthday Party”, behaving like this traumatized stoner who goes through mental health problems due to his brother’s mysterious death. Every time anyone starts talking about it, all of the kids get awkward while Lanky suddenly turns up ready for fun at parties.

Lanky later has a monologue which is heartbreaking and mesmerizing that reminds one how much power there is in young actors who express adult emotions that we may understand but they don’t. The author wants the audience to believe Lanky’s Brother’s suicidal act was so incredible that he had to put it forth as a joke. It doesn’t even matter if Lanky is high when he does this Freedson Jackson’s enthusiasm and energy shows just what kind of messed up kid this boy already is.

This movie leaves one yearning for more from Roda as a writer/director, such as him pushing his younger actors away from their scripts or giving the film something of the imagination it sorely needs. Think about 20 minutes in where Rizzo, the guardian of this paradise, makes his entrance. He pulls up in a flashy red muscle car with a lot of swagger. Although small, his entry should be an iconic moment maybe an interesting camera angle, a particularly aggressive music cue or offhand joke about Rizzo says something more about what Rizzo is like.

Instead all we get is the film watching him walk across the parking lot from afar by using the teenagers’ point of view as they stand back near where all the action takes place. This implies “18 To Party” suggests there must be some other storylines on youth like this; otherwise it would seem too limited to what they see and talk about among themselves. Otherwise we too are stuck on the sidelines, impatiently waiting for the fun stuff to kick in.

Watch 18 to Party For Free On Gomovies.