Best Summer Ever – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

BEST SUMMER EVER – Review by April Neale

April 23, 2021April 25, 2021 April Neale Best Summer Ever, disabilties, Lauren Smitelli, Michael Parks Randa, musical, Rickey Alexander Wilson, Shannon DeVido

Best Summer Ever is an effervescent coming-of-age tale that defies the formula of rom coms and high school musicals. It is both of those things and yet so much more, as it boasts a mixed cast of abled and disabled actors who all deliver memorable lines in between tight and bright musical moments. In a perfect world, we all would want to go to the high school featured in Best Summer Ever. Mount Abe High School, home of the fightin’ Eagles, where all sorts are together in class, in the hall, at lunch and in sports and more.

Festivals Reviews

BEST SUMMER EVER (SXSW21) – Review by Leslie Combemale

March 31, 2021February 3, 2022 Leslie Combemale Benjamin Bratt, Best Summer Ever, disabilities, maggie gyllenhaal, Michael Parks Randa, musicals, sxsw 2021

Best Summer Ever is a weird and delightful tossed screen-salad of Crip Camp and High School Musical, with a side of Grease, where no one mentions the disabilities, and there is truly authentic disability representation. Both realistic and aspirational, Best Summer Ever is the sort of movie that may be fun and frothy, but it’s also needed in order for bigger studio films to consider more inclusive casting.