The Reel Review
A teenage boy must reconcile his romantic feelings for his new girlfriend with his guilty conscience over a prank that ended in tragedy for her family in this 2017 romantic drama set in 1980s North Carolina.
All Summers End is a movie in which the acting far exceeds its disappointingly weak script. Leads Tye Sheridan and Kaitlyn Dever both give powerful, heartfelt performances, with Paula Malcolmson and Annabeth Gish also excellent as their moms. The problem is the well-intended but pointless story from writer/director Kyle Wilamowski. It never really takes off, failing to flesh out the relationships enough to make them even remotely believable.
Wilamowski’s choice to have an adult version of the teenage protagonist tell the story as a flashback has all the subtlety of a Mac truck barreling down an icy, curvy highway. The dialogue is corny and the profoundly bad decision making by the protagonist will infuriate viewers as they realize this is a film with no real purpose other than to wallow in pointless melancholy, and with no repercussions for poor decision making.
REEL FACTS
• Tye Sheridan and Kaitlyn Dever also played boyfriend/girlfriend in three episodes of 2011’s Last Man Standing.
• All Summers End was filmed in Raleigh, North Carolina under the original title, Grass Stains.
• All Summers End moms Annabeth Gish and Patricia Malcomson had small roles in the FX Series Sons of Anarchy.
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