Directed by Luke Covert
Written by Samantha Oty, Luke Covert
Starring Nicholas Stoesser, Jared Spears and Jordyn Denning
Runtime: Ninety-four minutes
Available digitally June 14

by KL Martin, Staff Writer

Austin Morris blows off the biggest party in town in lieu of working overtime at his job, The Quality Mart, pissing off his friends who have no idea that he and his friend really plan to rob the place blind on NYE 1999.

In what is easily the most surprising film that I’ve gotten to watch in some time, Turbo Cola might be one of the better period coming-of-age films I’ve seen in the past five years. It’s not without its faults but it stands up in some ways that lessen those faults a bit

Somehow this project, directed by Luke Covert, mashed the finer parts of Clerks, with Pineapple Express and sprinkles of Reservoir Dogs. None of that should make any sense at all. However, not only does it make sense but it culminates in one of the more accurate,contained and enjoyable period portrays of angsty teens desperate to get out of their nowhere small town against the backdrop of one history’s more blatant and worrisome false alarms, Y2K.

Based on the play “New Years Eve at the Stop N Go” written by Samantha Oty, we follow Austin (Nicholas Stoesser) and his burnout buddy, Swearsky (Jared Spears) as they hatch a plan to rob Austin’s job, the Quality Mart through ill-constructed ATM that has somehow left a space between the machine and the refrigerator big enough to quietly siphon off 100s of dollars to split between the two.

As alluded to in the beginning, clearly everything that can go wrong does as all the volatile aspects of Austin’s life converge in spot. Seemingly, everytime he tries to take the cash and stuff it nonchalantly into the eponymous “Turbo Cola” sweepstakes display, someone walks in.

Whether it be a cop looking for coffee or anyone of his friends trying to get him to ditch the extra money that overtime brings at the Quality Mart (and unknowingly, his plan) to come to the Y2K party in a never seen but heard fallout shelter. Austin has a TON of real baggage that shuffles in and it’s feels like he thinks if he steals the money to be with his NYU bound, sort of kind of girlfriend, Mary Jane (Jordyn Denning), everything will work out.

Nicholas Strosser does a remarkable job of portraying Austin. He carries every scene he is in, even the ones where he is alone. All of which are incredibly hard in such a contained project based on a stage play. There is very little wiggle room and he makes the most of almost every second he is on camera. Jordyn Denning is fantastic though I feel like they could have given her a little more regarding MJ’s history with Austin and Jimmy (Landon Tavernier). Things were said in passing but weren’t touched on enough in my opinion. This includes Jimmy and Austin’s relationship, which felt like more than best friends, at least on Jimmy’s end.

Yes I get it, the movie was one hour and thirty four minutes long so that deeper dive would have taken a lot but they could have used all the extra time taken for the excruciatingly slow and useless push shots that annoyed the filmmaker in me a lot. I get the idea and it’s usage but it was overly dramatic. Dennis Thomas did a fantastic job otherwise.

Luke Covert navigates this play turned film with a finesse and eye that makes you forget that this was his first feature. Taking on the task of making a stage play a feature is no small feat. He did an incredible job.

Overall, despite some issues plotwise that left me a little disappointed (What did Jennifer want to tell Austin? Or Where did Jimmy go at the end of the movie ? Did I just miss that?) this felt like this was the 90s nostalgia people need to see more of but probably didn’t expect from an indie film.