The real psychopath is the cameraman

Absolutely brilliant and powerful. Astounding performances from the two protagonists. [spoiler]Owen's depiction of someone suffering from PTSD was breathtaking. I also liked how it was made ambiguous whether there was a cameraman in all of the scenes or it was just in Matt's imagination for most of them (e.g. the cliff scene and a few others where there are shots from multiple angles cut together).[/spoiler]

i can't really say i enjoyed this film, because it was really uncomfortable. like, the feeling of dread about how things were developing was hard to set aside, even knowing this was a piece of fiction. i finished high school long after columbine but well before the age of school shootings happening every week, or more, and the most traumatic thing that happened at my school was a lockdown because an armed gunman from a nearby robbery cut through our campus in an attempted escape. and that time we had a bomb threat, that was kind of scary. anyway, even being pretty removed compared to the generation after me, this was hard to be able to find comedic value in. there are funny moments, but it's not a funny film. the high schoolers are believable, and so are the teachers. i'm glad owen was able to come out of his shell, i guess? and matt is a truly convincing character—in that he's kind of a shell of a person, whose personality is wholly constructed around the movies that he enjoys. i love kevin smith and he doesn't usually steer me wrong but idk i could've lived my life easily without ever seeing this.

I really enjoyed this, though it's not easy to watch likeable characters go off the rails.