Snack Shack

Snack Shack is a 2024 American coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier. Set in the summer of 1991, it stars Conor Sherry and Gabriel LaBelle as a pair of teenage friends working at a community pool snack shack in Nebraska City. Mika Abdalla portrays a newcomer lifeguard who disrupts the friend duo's summer plans. Gillian Vigman, David Costabile, and Nick Robinson play supporting roles. The film's plot is semi-autobiographical, being loosely based on Rehmeier's childhood experience in Nebraska City. MRC, Paperclip Limited, and T-Street produced the film.
Snack Shack received a limited theatrical release in the United States on March 15, 2024, by Republic Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
== Plot ==
Two teenage friends, A.J. Carter and Moose Miller, pursue various money-making schemes such as betting on dog races and brewing their own beer. These attempts are thwarted by their parents, leading them to bid on and win a city council auction to operate the Snack Shack at a community pool during the summer. Their business is immediately successful, taking in over in revenue on its first day of operation.
A.J. and Moose's friendship is threatened when a young woman named Brooke moves in next door to A.J. They both fall for her. The daughter of a military man, she's only in town until he is reassigned. Moose is the more aggressive of the two and Brooke begins going out with him, although it's clear that she's more interested in A.J., who has helped her get a job as a lifeguard at the pool. This and Moose's shot-calling push tensions between the pair and increasingly jeopardize the Snack Shack, as does their increasingly heated conflict with older high schoolers, steroidaddict wrestler brothers Randy and Rodney Carmichael. 
A.J. relies on his friend, Shane Workman, for advice about dating and life in general. Shane is slightly older than A.J. and has just returned from a tour in the military. He and A.J. make plans to tour Alaska at the end of the summer. 
Although the Snack Shack continues to thrive, A.J. and Moose quarrel about Brooke—leading to Moose punching A.J. in the face and ending their friendship. The pair solidify a separation by divvying up shifts after the Carmichaels trash the Snack Shack in their absence. 
A.J. and Brooke are about to consummate their attraction to each other when they are interrupted by A.J.'s father, the Judge, who breaks the news that Shane has died in a car accident. The boys' shared grief brings them back together. Brooke grieves with them, but soon afterward her father is reassigned and she must leave Nebraska City and A.J. As Brooke leaves, A.J. and the Judge share a beer and a tender moment on their front porch. 
== Cast ==
* Conor Sherry as A.J. Carter, a teenager in Nebraska City
* Gabriel LaBelle as Moose Miller, a teenager in Nebraska City
* Mika Abdalla as Brooke, a pool lifeguard
* Nick Robinson as Shane Workman, A.J.'s friend
* David Costabile as Judge Carter, A.J.'s father
* Gillian Vigman as Jean Carter, A.J.'s mother
* June Gentry as Chrissy Carter, A.J.'s sister
* April Clark as Leah, A.J.'s next-door neighbor and Brooke's cousin
* Michael Bonini as Randy Carmichael
* Christian James as Rodney Carmichael
* J. D. Evermore as Bill Workman, Shane's father
* Steve Berg as Lester "Les" Miller, Moose's father
* Kate Robertson Pryor as Sherry Miller, Moose's mother
== Production ==
===Development===
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier based the premise of the film on his boyhood experience of operating the Steinhart Park Pool snack shack in his hometown of Nebraska City, Nebraska.
Conor Sherry, then a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, was cast from a self-taped audition in a hotel room while he was isolating with COVID-19. Gabriel LaBelle was cast for the movie in 2022 during production of the Steven Spielberg film The Fabelmans, which he starred in as Sammy Fabelman, a character loosely based on Spielberg.
===Filming===
The six-week filming schedule of Snack Shack began in Nebraska City on July 25, 2022. The movie was supported by a $200,000 grant from the Nebraska state government and filming occurred entirely within the state. Supplemental locations included the Pioneer 3 Theater in Nebraska City as well as Henry Doorly Zoo and Horsemen’s Park (Renamed Statesman’s in the film) in Omaha. Production featured up to 65 cast and crew members with extras hired from the area.
== Release ==
Paramount Pictures holds the distribution rights for Snack Shack under the Republic Pictures banner. The film was released in the United States on March 15, 2024. The distributor acquired the rights prior to the film's release being delayed by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.
== Reception ==
 
Calum Marsh of The New York Times praised the film, writing that "with its rambling momentum and quick-witted, almost musical dialogue, it feels less like Superbad than a Robert Altman movie, sort of like a pint-size California Split." Jesse Hassenger of Paste was also positive about the film, writing "This sentimentalization plagues so many nostalgia pieces aimed at ex-kids, though at least a movie that ultimately pushes its luck and stalls out befits the high-rolling teenagers at its center. Most of Snack Shack is a winning scheme." Robert Kojder of Flickering Myth called it "a lively and fittingly crass coming-of-age story with a great deal of feeling, truthfulness, and period specificity." J. Kim Murphy of Variety wrote "Armed with a talented cast, writer-director Adam Rehmeier's 1991-set feature happily squares itself in a tradition of teenage hedonism and broad learning opportunities, settling into a generic but warm glow."
Matt Schimkowitz of The A.V. Club was mixed, saying "Even with the script's problems, the film is kinetic, and as in Dinner in America, Rehmeier gets terrific performances from his cast." Kayla Turner of Screen Rant criticized the screenplay, saying that "The movie starts off quickly and provides an in-your-face introduction to the film's intended direction. However, the momentum quickly fizzles out, and the plot begins to meander towards the finish line, taking several unnecessary detours along the way." Roger Moore of Movie Nation criticized it for being "very long" and "not that funny," and felt that it was a "comedy connected by disjointed and generally unoriginal scenes rather than a coherent narrative."
== External links ==
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== References ==
Category:2024 films
Category:2024 comedy films
Category:2020s buddy comedy films
Category:2020s coming-of-age comedy films
Category:2020s teen comedy films
Category:American buddy comedy films
Category:Paramount Pictures films
Category:American coming-of-age comedy films
Category:2020s English-language films
Category:Films affected by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
Category:Films affected by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike
Category:Films set in 1991
Category:Films set in Nebraska
Category:Films shot in Nebraska
Category:Semi-autobiographical films
Category:Pages containing Mature Content