Drugstore June (2024)

Drugstore June Review

Drugstore June was filled with comedians much in the same way a blueberry muffin is topped with sprinkles. Writer and star Esther Povitsky plays an aspiring influencer archetype, who tries takes every social media trend as commandments. She sees it as her destiny to become famous on the internet although shoddily written execution prevents any insightful critique about how social media has become an unavoidable part of life for young people today. Also, there are some absurdly unresolved storylines that leave you feeling like you just ate a “nothing burger.” You can’t make a good comedy by casting flashy celebrities or using lots of weird edits which ultimately end up being the case here when all is said and done.

There are three obvious plotlines: the heist, the ex-boyfriend, and June’s desire for online fame. Unfortunately, they’re awkwardly mashed together to the point of being nonsensical and extremely irritating. If it focused on a small-town scam in the vein of Fargo or took a more modern look at social media sleuths, maybe the main story could have been more solidified. Influencer culture is ripe for satire especially as it pertains to hyper-consumerism, unattainable body standards and vapid obsession with follower numbers. But June’s goals are so haphazardly thrown in there that they hardly matter during her amateur investigation. With true-crime content being as popular as it is right now from completely tactless to actually case-solving, Drugstore June could’ve been about an uninspired trend-follower using her platform for her own personal mission. It seems tacked on if anything just to allow for easy jabs at internet woke youth.

The running jokes all seem centered around June loving junk food and wanting male attention. Both are handled in such an uncomfortable, cringe-inducing way that one has to ask when poorly written satire becomes ignorantly offensive and loses sight of its original goal. Her family shames her and calls her a pig sometimes but she flip-flops between not caring at all and freaking out over implications about her weight without any logic behind it whatsoever. Unnecessarily mean-spirited insults mixed with bizarre reactions make for a very confusing portrayal of how she feels about eating/Vindication for destroying ice cream machine should’ve been mentioned before robbery; also why would you not make this person a dessert reviewer? I don’t think any of the jokes were funny and instead felt like punching down on eating disorders/dieting.

June flirts openly with pretty much every man she comes across (most of them noticeably older) despite claiming to only have eyes for her ex. Of course there’s nothing inherently wrong with talking about this kind of stuff. June’s behavior could have opened up doors to exploring psycho-sexual dynamics of seeking validation through sexuality and womanhood, but Drugstore June decides to go the “daddy issues” route instead complete with unnecessary raunchy dialogue that had me cringing so hard I almost walked out. At least she stays consistent with thinking men are obsessed with her, and there’s potential for more self-aware irony if it was presented differently. There is an interesting sequence where June lies to her mom about how her doctor (Bill Burr) is getting divorced because he’s in love with her, but then nothing ever comes from it or gets explored further so any deeper motive behind this projection is basically lost in a sea of lackluster delivery and poor setup.

Exceptional moments only come out in the open for a while, and the feeling of wasted potential is not easily forgotten. Unlikable main characters can still be interesting if they are believable and self-aware, no matter how ridiculous they may seem. But June’s infuriating self-centeredness destroys any chance at character development. The script also suffers from bathos at its worst. jokes that deflate tension instead of letting it breathe. By making her nearly always lack or irrationally react to serious scenes for the sake of cliché personification, June’s arc is rendered completely unearned. How can a character change if they are played as oblivious and mostly unaffected by their surroundings? What makes things worse is that she says in the denouement, “I learned a lot,” without showing us anything different about herself throughout the story. In general, this was an inconsistent story with tired characters and plotlines that never connect; there were also too many parts where people just talked without any real purpose behind it all; finally, none of the humor worked because it was so tone-deaf all these things combined made for one long boring read which I’m sure would suit some people fine but didn’t do it for me at all.

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