The Wise Kids The Wise Kids

A vivid, dynamic Southern coming-of-age drama, takes place in the transitional space between high school and college, when life seems to be all questions and no answers, and the future is scarily wide open. Set in and around a Charleston, SC Baptist church, weaving through this ensemble piece are three main characters - Brea, an introspective pastor's daughter experiencing debilitating doubt, the hyperactive Laura, Brea's best friend and a devout believer, and Tim, the open-hearted son of a single father, confronting his homosexuality for the first time. Tensions and buried feelings abound, as colleges are chosen and adults behave badly, as Brea, Laura and Tim attempt to hang onto what they have, all the while yearning to break free.

Molly Kunz Tyler Ross Allison Torem Stephen Cone Sadieh Rifai

91 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • trawlerman

    Review by trawlerman ★★ 2

    I guess I was expecting more. Everything about this film is shallow and right-on-the-nose. There are no characters to care about in this film, only preordained types used to represent ideas.

  • Robert Fuller

    Review by Robert Fuller ★★★★

    Uncommonly tender and understated indie about faith and understanding, concerning three Christian, college-bound teens and their Charleston, South Carolina community. Although two of the characters are gay, and almost all of them are Christian, it's refreshingly devoid of didacticism, of any kind. Its devotion to subtlety flags in a couple of spots -- one in which a closeted gay man persistently solicits his wife's opinion on his appearance in anticipation of attending a gay teen's birthday party, and another in which the gay man's wife stares longingly through a window at another man, as tears roll down her cheeks (we barely see her interact with this character, so her tearful reaction to his departure seems out of proportion to the…

  • AnInlandVoyage

    Review by AnInlandVoyage ★★★★★

    Touching story of the humanity underlying religious beliefs.

  • Michael Scott

    Review by Michael Scott ★★½

    In a small Baptist community in the southern United States, a group of young Christians struggle with their personal demons as they approach the cusp of adulthood. The preacher's daughter, Brea (Molly Kunz) is having a crisis of faith, her best friend Laura (Allison Torem) is heading deeper into hers, which puts her at odds with their other friend Tim (Tyler Ross) when he reveals himself to be one of those walking contradictions, a gay god-botherer.

    With The Wise Kids, writer/director Stephen Cone has carved out an interesting niche in the landscape of queer cinema. His film is multi-focussed, fervently idiosyncratic and, above all, light to touch. Cone's characters inhabit a world that exists beyond the frame of the camera…

  • bclainhart

    Review by bclainhart ★★★★

    The Wise Kids is an honest and believable exploration of growing up and coming to an understanding with your thoughts and convictions. Religion is at the center of the story but it is the characters that we care about. When I laughed I laughed without cynicism and when I felt moved I felt it subtly and with empathy. This is truly one of the best movies dealing with religion that I've ever seen because it does not make any judgement. I would never have thought I'd be moved almost to (happy) tears by a nativity scene.

  • Danny

    Review by Danny ★★★½

    As a coming-of-age tale, director/co-star Stephen Cone really understands how teens think/act/feel, which is something rare in contemporary film. Grappling with the notion of faith and what it actually means to be a Christian, Cone explores several layers of the impact it may have on someone ready to grow, even if it's without the church. Subtlety is the film's only real flaw, with some shots lingering on a character long after the audience understands what the intended message is, but the performances in the film are solid all-around and I really look forward to what Cone puts out next.