Snack Shack is the kind of movie you're supposed to like, the kind where the title flies onto the screen after the first ten minutes in big neon letters that scream, "Look at me, I'm the next American Graffiti or Dazed and Confused!" And this is exactly why it doesn't work, why every character feels entirely scripted and not like someone you would actually know in real life.
I do not doubt that there are moments of autobiographical truth in the storytelling, particularly in the Midwest setting and moments of insecurity/heartbreak that every adolescent has at some (or several) points in their life. But from the too-cooky-to-be-real parents to the six-year-olds shouting profanity to the stereotypical pretty girl who comes onto the main character in innocent I'm-teasing-you-because-I-like-you dominatrix fashion, there is just something mechanical in the whole affair.
Will you enjoy it? If you don't look for art that holds up a mirror to real life, then yes, it's fun enough. But if you want something a little more believable, a little more fresh and rooted in genuine human warmth and pathos, you're better off finding the closest revival theater and rewatching American Graffiti.
I do not doubt that there are moments of autobiographical truth in the storytelling, particularly in the Midwest setting and moments of insecurity/heartbreak that every adolescent has at some (or several) points in their life. But from the too-cooky-to-be-real parents to the six-year-olds shouting profanity to the stereotypical pretty girl who comes onto the main character in innocent I'm-teasing-you-because-I-like-you dominatrix fashion, there is just something mechanical in the whole affair.
Will you enjoy it? If you don't look for art that holds up a mirror to real life, then yes, it's fun enough. But if you want something a little more believable, a little more fresh and rooted in genuine human warmth and pathos, you're better off finding the closest revival theater and rewatching American Graffiti.