For being such a young actor without a trademark franchise to hang his hat on, Timothée Chalamet has quietly amassed quite the resumé thus far. His talents have not gone unnoticed as he has been nominated for an Oscar as well as a few dozen other awards. Last year was definitely his biggest year to-date with him being featured in several high profile movies such as Call Me by Your Name (2017), Ladybird (2017) and Hostiles (2017). As a matter of fact, Detroit Film Critics Society, which I am a proud member of, nominated Chalamet as the Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Although he did not win, that hasn’t diminished what he’s accomplished on screen. Oddly, the movie we’re going to talk about today, Hot Summer Nights was technically a 2017 movie as well but didn’t get a wide theatrical release until now.

This “mostly” true story takes place during the summer of 1991 in Cape Cod. It is there that a young innocent Daniel (Timothée Chalamet) sheds his virtuous persona for something a little less untainted. Due to circumstances that were out of Daniel’s hands, he has been relegated to this pretentious place to spend his free time while school is out. Daniel, who has no friends to speak of in this strange place, falls into an odd friendship with Hunter (Alex Roe), a less than savory character. Daniel is introduced to drugs which ends up being a gateway to all sorts of things, both good and bad. The new friends end up selling drugs and raising hell as Daniel is growing up right before our eyes. With a newly found swagger, he catches the eye of McKayla (Maika Monroe), which will prove to have challenges of its own. The further down the rabbit hole he goes, the worse things become around him. Daniel will have to take the bad with the good as coming of age may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Hot Summer Nights is one of those movies that you sit down to watch casually but you end up becoming entangled in all of the mess that is going on. Timothée Chalamet gives a good performance while navigating the trials and tribulations of growing into a young man. Chalamet really gets behind his character and gives his all in portraying this conflicted youth. Alex Roe hasn’t had a ton of theatrical experience but you really wouldn’t notice it the way he pulls off his fiery scenes. And Maika Monroe does a decent job in her role as well, displaying just enough spunk and emotion to keep her character interesting.

There isn’t anything that makes Hot Summer Nights totally stand out from other coming of age, teen dramas. That being said, the story is interesting as it unfolds and the characters slowly chance from the way they first were to how you perceive them towards the end. This drama is nowhere nearly as controversial as movies like Kids (1995) or Bully (2001), especially lacking the excessive sexual content, but it does focus on the hard life and temptations that teens are faced with on a daily basis. Taking a couple of hours out of your day to see Hot Summer Nights wouldn’t be the worst idea this weekend. There is a lot to like about it, and that’s saying a lot given that it’s the first piece of work for Elijah Bynum, who serves as both the writer and the director. Check it out in theaters now.