SNACK SHACK - Mark Reviews Movies

Snack Shack, Republic Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | March 14, 2024

In Snack Shack, a couple of Nebraska 14-year-old guys have it all planned out for the summer, and by "it," they mean gambling on dog races at an off-track betting location across the border, brewing beer in some plastic buckets to sell around town (and drinking some of the beer before selling it, natch), and otherwise finding ways to make money and have fun together. A.J. (Conor Sherry) and Moose (Gabriel LaBelle) have been friends for years, and as long as this is all they want from each other and out of their friendship, they'll be pals for years to come.

For all of the gimmicky stuff—such the gambling and how these two really do try to present themselves as up-and-coming entrepreneurs—about this friendship, there's something quite honest about it in writer/director Adam Rehmeier's mind. Most young friendships are more a matter of shared proximity than shared interests or larger goals, because kids pretty much have the same interests and goals. One imagines A.J. and Moose bonding over the fact that their parents knew each other at first, whatever toy was popular in the late 1980s as they grew up, and a general dislike for school as soon as they started reaching their teenage years.

During the movie's setting at the start of the '90s, though, these two boys are starting to become a bit different. Moose is the one who really enjoys betting on dogs and looking for poker games, while coming up with most of the ideas for how he and his friend will make enough cash to actually have a good time when school's out. A.J. isn't nearly as eager, except that his best bud likes to gamble and hustle, and there's another problem with Moose's plan that only really affects A.J.

His parents are noticing what their son has been up to, and they don't appreciate or approve of his behavior. Moose may be able to get away with whatever, but that's not going to be case for A.J. It's either he straighten up, finding some legitimate way to have fun and earn some cash this summer, or he ends up a military school.

None of this setup is new, of course. However, one has to somewhat admire the sincere simplicity of Rehmeier's approach, which is about the little adventures and misadventures that a couple of teens in the Midwest would probably get into circa 1991, as the two are confronted by the fact that their friendship might not be on as solid grounding as they have assumed for so long. It's too bad the movie can't find a way to examine all of this that doesn't feel so familiar and obvious.

Instead, Rehmeier's screenplay is all about assorted situations and melodrama, instead of letting these characters and their friendship exist in a way that comes across as natural. There are beats between the assorted gags and conflicts that arise that try, but this relationship always feels tied to the oftentimes-forced attempts humor and plotting without seeming as if it exists on its own.

Take just how much business unfolds for A.J. and Moose before they have a conversation that doesn't seem overly written and isn't about their plans to make money for the summer. A.J. explains his secret to picking winning dogs at the track. The two have to rush back to a school field trip to a local amusement park before any of the chaperones suspect too much. Their own extracurricular trip is discovered, leading A.J.'s parents (played by David Costabile and Gillian Vigman) to threaten him with something, and Moose starts imagining alternative sources of income. Also, A.J. meets Brooke (Mika Abdalla), the older teen cousin of a neighbor who's living there for the summer and becomes exactly the sort of malleable yet idealistic character one would expect from a movie about two teenage boys who fall for her.

The ultimate plan is to rent the public pool's concession stand for the summer (There's a funny bit of them desperately trying to raise a few thousand dollars, only to realize what the rental is actually worth). Moose imagines the money will just pour in, even after the expenses of food to keep in stock and new equipment (The "new" fridge smells for a dementedly funny reason, too), and sure enough, kids can't get enough of microwaved hot dogs after swimming—especially up-charged ones that have assorted swear words written in condiments.

Such little details feel authentic, but the bigger ones here, such as how the entire disruption of the friendship basically comes down to the new girl coming between them, are either too contrived or clichéd to seem as genuine. It doesn't help that the movie's tone is all over the place, going for the juvenile laughs of the teens' antics but also taking matters like the love triangle and A.J.'s older friend Shane (Nick Robinson), who recently returned from the Gulf War, with a degree of seriousness that clashes. Snack Shack is especially egregious about that in the third act, when an event of dread severity only emphasizes just how much distance the material puts between us and the characters.

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