18 to Party Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
If you think your middle school years were awkward and rough, just wait until you get a load of the characters in writer/director Jeffrey Roda’s dramedy 18 to Party. The year is 1984, and a group of fellow students from the same middle school — I am reluctant to call them friends because, although they all know each other, few are friendly to one another — are hanging out behind a club, hoping that the bouncer will let them sneak in after the high schoolers are all let in. They snipe at each other, highlighting their adolescent insecurities, while most of the adults in town are at a meeting about the recent spate of UFO sightings.
Among the main characters are soccer star Brad (Oliver Gifford) — probably the most grounded of the bunch — and his buddy Shel (Tanner Flood), who is uptight about getting a less-than-perfect score on a pop quiz and having to be home early the next morning to do his chores; Amy (Alivia Clark), a drama student who is interested in Shel; confrontational Kira (Ivy Miller), who is quick to put others down, along with their musical tastes; and school juvenile delinquent Lanky (James Freedson-Jackson), whose brother recently committed suicide after his girlfriend did the same.
This is a talky film, and the characters don’t always speak like middle schoolers do, or at least did in the early 1980s — at least not the ones I knew. Roda is initially less concerned with action and proclaiming which characters are considered the main ones early on, but as 18 to Party progresses, things become clearer in those departments. It’s difficult to warm up to any of the characters because of all their negativity, bluster, and bravado, but among the dialogue are some humorous nuggets and touching moments.
The young ensemble cast is terrific, and the eventual leads get to display some gripping work in showcase scenes in the second half of the film. The soundtrack, which includes Big Audio Dynamite and The Velvet Underground, among others, is solid, and the set design — mostly a parking lot and back of a building that has “Punk’s not dead” and other graffiti decorating it — and costumes are well done and authentic without overdoing things.
The film’s offbeat subplot about the aforementioned UFO sightings is an interesting one, adding some intrigue and mystery to the confrontational talk between the teens. We have all known — and perhaps even been — middle schoolers like the ones in 18 to Party, so along with pushing certain pop culture nostalgia buttons, the film is likely to bring back uncomfortable memories from those years, but the moments of small triumphs and epiphanies with the film’s characters will help balance those out.
18 to Party is available on all major VOD platforms from December 1.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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