Are you able to keep in mind the way you spent your childhood summers? Had been they by the pool consuming concession stand junk? Biking in every single place you went? Fist-fighting your greatest good friend? Falling for a lady from out of city? One thing alongside these strains? Or perhaps you simply noticed a film like that. That sort of simple familiarity is what teen comedy “Snack Shack” comfortably units up store on. Armed with a gifted solid, writer-director Adam Rehmeier’s 1991-set characteristic fortunately squares itself in a practice of teenage hedonism and broad studying alternatives, settling right into a generic however heat glow.

Early-20s actors Conor Sherry and Gabriel LaBelle lead the movie, stretching the legal guidelines of verisimilitude enjoying 14-year-old greatest pals, however rising plausibly teenaged with their lame-brain rapport. The 2 play AJ and Moose, a pair of hustlers attempting to find their subsequent rating after home-brewing a “drinkable as fuck” beer. When the pleasant college-aged lifeguard Shane (Nick Robinson) notes that the poolside Snack Shack is up for summer time rental, the boys see greenback indicators.

Rehmeier angles the type for a nostalgia issue, naturally. (The manufacturing shot on location in his hometown of Nebraska Metropolis.) A sweaty microwaved sizzling canine has not often been photographed with such affection. And the filmmaker peppers in loads of different anachronisms to determine a sunny tone, together with a retro title card with manufacturing corporations, colourful costuming and loads of Gen X soundtrack staples. (They even locked down the rights to “Age of Consent.”)

AJ and Moose aren’t essentially the most cautious businessmen. A gap scene introduces the 2 puffing cigarettes throughout state strains, absconding from a faculty journey to place up bets on the tracks (and never even on horses, however on canine). AJ’s dad and mom (David Costabile and Gillian Vigman) don’t approve of their son’s alternative in pals, as an alternative harboring hopes that he’ll attain for extra socially acceptable entrepreneurial ventures. However after Moose pressures the extra sheepish AJ to empty his checking account for an overpaying bid on the Snack Shack, the one approach out of the purple goes all-in on the enterprise.

AJ and Moose’s unhealthy habits tends to snowball like their schemes. The 2 take pleasure in a wholesome vary of vices: ingesting, playing, even simply cussing. “Snack Shack” is suffering from profanity, a choice that’s neither endearing nor irritating, however as an alternative numbs right into a unifying age-appropriate dialect. “Hit that shit!” one teen instructions as one other takes essentially the most dainty sip of sunshine beer. Rehmeier can’t summon a lot of a shock issue to play his characters’ exclamatory approach of talking for laughs, however there’s a reputable, considerably soulful lameness to it. The boys upcharge sizzling canine by writing four-letter phrases on them with condiments — a too-proud-of-itself novelty that sums up how they strategy language.

One other successfully grating profanity: “Shit Pig,” the terrible pet title that girl-next-door Brooke (Mika Abdalla) calls AJ all through the movie. As with loads of teen options earlier than, this prickly crush isn’t precisely the sharpest-drawn character — a shortcoming additional accentuated by the annoying fluttery rating that creeps in each time she shares a scene with AJ. However Abdalla and Sherry do strike a profitable chemistry, and the actress affords some delicate indicators that Brooke’s ironic detachment masks a extra non-public disappointment. “Snack Shack” largely operates as a slack collection of shenanigans, however the budding teen romance affords a backbone, in addition to a possibility to get dramatic as soon as Brooke attracts the eye of Moose, predictably placing the boys’ friendship in jeopardy.

LaBelle, too, makes a robust impression. Having already been headhunted by Steven Spielberg to play the director’s soft-spoken self-portrait in “The Fabelmans,” the 21-year-old actor proves his mettle as soon as once more right here, amping it up as a fake-it-till-you-make-it alpha, whose gung-ho demeanor clearly masks some emotional deficiencies. The solid reveals expertise throughout the board, additional examined by a tonal rug pull within the remaining act that has the characters confronting extra critical issues than crushes and sweet bars.

Rehmeier proves much less versatile in that transition. The director possesses a profitable sense of comedian discovery, welcoming sudden methods to increase awkward interactions — like when AJ appears to unintentionally fall of his bike whereas dashing away from Brooke — whereas additionally understanding when to place a button on scenes each time a personality achieves profound embarrassment. Like its teenage heroes, “Snack Shack” scraps collectively a scant however charismatic persona working amongst used elements. However as soon as the story has nowhere to go however a tearjerker denouement, its world appears reasonably skinny.