But, when the cast is as good as this, it really doesn’t matter. I was surprised by how well everyone fares actually. I’ve never seen a movie made on such a shoestring before where every actor is at least adequate and a few are downright memorable. I’d really like to single out two for special mention.
Laurel Reese is very affecting as the female lead Megs. She’s natural. The camera loves her. It’s sincerely a great little movie moment when she tries her first cigarette or when she cracks a smile after making Ben’s love interest jealous.
And Josh Adam Davis is simply a revelation as Josh, Ben’s older brother. I had that constant, nagging, “I know I’ve seen him before” feeling while watching his every move. He was reminding me of Jason Segel’s Sydney Fife from I Love You, Man and Matthew McConaughey’s David Wooderson from Dazed and Confused – in very good ways. Josh and Megs are two of the film’s most complex characters. Reese and Davis are two actors now firmly on my radar.
The marketing for The Graduates is a bit off. I was expecting something cheap and raucous like Porky’s, but instead got something classier, more like Adventureland. Gielen has a great understanding of genre and knows how to twist it and play with it and re-shape it. All the partying and drinking and trying to get laid are here as they should be in a “male coming of age sex comedy,” but they merely act as springboards, allowing the characters to take flight a bit before plunging into deeper waters.
Ultimately, what one fondly remembers after the lights come up is a collection of enjoyably distinctive characters, each finding his or her own – sometimes surprising – way to come of age.
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