Written by Hannah Marks and Joey Power
Directed by Benjamin Kasulke
Starring Hannah Marks, Liana Liberato and Dylan Sprouse
MPAA rating: R for crude sexual content and language throughout, drug and alcohol use -- all involving teens
Running time: 1 hour and 28 minutes

by Emily Maesar

You always remember your first great love - and their new girlfriend who became your next great love. And that’s Banana Split in a nutshell, which is a super fun idea and a perfectly fine film.

Banana Split goes like this: April (Hannah Marks) and Nick (Dylan Sprouse) have been dating for two years, and they were friends way before that. When they get accepted to different colleges too far apart to continue, they break up. April is sad in their remaining months before orientation, but Nick moves on. Enter Clara (Liana Liberato), Nick’s new girlfriend and the bane of April’s existence. Except… she’s actually really cool. And so the girls start a secret friendship. What could possibly go wrong?

The answer is everything. Obviously. But while it’s criminal that there’s no queer content (and it’s lamp shaded in an… interesting way), this film is a good depiction of female friendship under turbulent curcumstances. It’s the directorial debut of indie cinematographer Benjamin Kasulke, and I think he does a solid job. Co-written by it’s star Hannah Marks and her partner Joey Power, I think the script does some fun stuff with the characters. The dialogue is zippy and delightful, and the relationship between Hannah and Clara is interesting, though I’m not sure how realistic it is. To a degree, sure, but the romantic-comedy lover, and active queer girl, in me wishes this had been a bisexual romp - which I think might have actually been a bit more true to life, especially for a more modern teen film.

My biggest complaint is actually about the guys. There’s either too much of them, or not enough, but I’m not sure which. Dylan Sprouse plays Nick, the boyfriend in question. He’s a man more talked about (and then decided not because of The Rules) than actually seen until the third act of the film. I don’t know that I like Nick, let alone love him. The only thing we actually know about him is that he loves Carly Rae Jepsen unironically (which… same). But in all honesty I’m not sure why either of the girls like him. He’s fine, but there’s not a lot to him. He’s certainly not worth throwing a slushy in your best friend’s face or anything.

With an original premiere date of the very last LA Film Festival in 2018, Banana Split took about a year and a half to come out to the general public. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the film I couldn’t stop thinking about while watching this. While the film was waiting to come out, Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, Booksmart, was released. I mention Booksmart because it was one of my favorite films from 2019, it was also a debut for the director and (most importantly) because it feels like Banana Split is aiming for the same audience. While they were probably shot around the same time in 2018, Booksmart feels like the film this one should have watched to grow up a little bit. I couldn’t help thinking about Molly and Amy and the amazingly well drawn cast of characters that surrounded them, something I think this film is sorely lacking. Obviously, the friendship is very different from the one in Wilde’s film, as is the conflict, but spiritually they are connected by female friendship and the complexities of it.

All of which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy Banana Split. It’s good fun, the actresses are exciting to watch and it’s succinct as hell - clocking in at less than 90 minutes with two solid montages for passage of time and relationship growth. It’s a good film and I’m glad I watched it. I don’t think it’ll go into the teen film hall of fame, but it deserves a viewing. You never know, it might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Available on demand Friday, March 27.