Beach Rats

CinemaSerf 3/20/2024 3:36:13PM 8.4

Harris Dickinson goes out on a bit of a limb with this role - and generally pulls off a convincing effort as a sexually repressed/confused teenager who leads a triple life - with a straight girlfriend; with his macho homophobic mates and when he picks up men online - or on Coney Island pier - for casual sex. The story is nothing new, but this is an edgier and grittier rendition of the coming-out story. I have to say that his character is really not a nice man; he manipulates as far as he can and ultimately gets his just desserts; he is thoughtless, reckless and selfish. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted and at times this is a very slow burn but I suspect that there are many young men going through a similar identity crisis, and dealing with it in much the same way. Watch out for the star, I reckon he is going places....