“Boys Go to Jupiter” Captures Suburban Sadness
There isn’t much we can all agree on, but the one thing that seems to unite everyone is a shared disdain for our adolescent years. Wherever you grew up, whoever you are, odds are pretty good that you have some sort of semi-traumatic memory of your middle or high school years. It probably involves braces, a bad haircut, and/or acne. While Julian Glander’s Boys Go to Jupiter doesn’t literally have any of those touchpoints, they’re there in spirit. Boys Go to Jupiter is a coming-of-age animated odyssey where a young boy faces the biggest hurdle of them all: growing up.
Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett) has bought into the gig economy. He obsessively watches a YouTube money guru, aptly named Mr. Moolah (Demi Adejuyigbe), to guide him through the late-capitalist hellscape we all find ourselves living in. Billy’s magic number is $5,000, but his quest is derailed by a gelatinous blob that has crashed to earth. This little blob, affectionately named Donut by Billy, is wanted by the Dolphin Groves Juice Company. Dr. Dolphin (Janeane Garofalo) believes Donut is the answer to achieve orange juice supremacy.
courtesy of Boys Go to Jupiter
Boys Go to Jupiter takes place during the liminal, elongated, yet fleeting week between Christmas and New Year’s. When there’s nothing really to do when you’re a kid. School’s out, your parents are also kind of slacking off, and a general air of emptiness permeates everything. The feeling is heightened in Florida. If you grew up in a place with seasons, it feels criminally wrong to wear shorts for Christmas. It’s disorienting, and Boys Go to Jupiter revels in the slightly off-kilter sensation that’s unique to the Sunshine State. Of course Glander’s version of the state is nothing like you’ve seen before. It’s as though Florida was ingested by Tumblr circa 2009 and spit back out as a pastel wonderland of suburban melancholy. There is perhaps a new style of filmmaking emerging from those who grew up or spent time in Florida. From the SXSW-premiering Mermaid to Boys Go to Jupiter, a Florida New Wave is bubbling to the surface. It’s one that understands the out-of-time nature of the Floridian existence, the way the sunshine changes people down there, and how easy it is to find yourself stuck.
Glander’s signature animation style is here on full display. He has created a playground of his own imagination that we’re lucky enough to exist in for a little while. Who doesn’t want to see the world like this? Where things are weird, like giant-hot-dog-on-top-of-a-building weird, but they’re also relaxing in an unexpected way. Perhaps part of the calm comes from Corbett’s almost melodic, mumbling cadence as Billy. Or maybe the lulling sensation comes from the low-fi songs that turn Boys Go to Jupiter into a musical of sorts. “I just turned sixteen / I know everything / I just want some sleep” sings Billy. It’s a sentiment we can all agree on, no matter what age we just turned.
courtesy of Boys Go to Jupiter
As someone who came of age in the early 2000s, who played enough of The Sims to catch the reference Glander hidden in the film, and who fell in love with the indie rock music of the era that Boys Go to Jupiter emulates, there’s a breathlessness that comes with experiencing the film. It’s as though this pastel, surrealist, cartoon-y world has captured that era of my adolescence, despite the fact that I grew up a thousand miles away. Boys Go to Jupiter has the feeling of the early days of the internet, where things were weird in their own way, with a voice that didn’t sound like anyone else. It’s hard to explain touchstones like Homestar Runner to those who didn’t stumble upon it and delight in its surrealism. Boys Go to Jupiter has captured that experience again. It’s a film that stumbles from one weird scenario to the next, but they’re all connected by the never-ending hustle of trying to figure out life.
The voice cast of Boys Go to Jupiter is a who’s-who of weirdo comedians, the sort of people who take “weirdo” as a badge of honor. Julio Torres, Sarah Sherman, Eva Victor, Joe Pera, Cole Escola, and Elsie Fisher round out the cast, playing characters with names like T-Bone, Old Slippy, Gail 5000, Beatbox, and Herschel Cretaceous.
As much as this review touches on the strangeness of the film, it’s also important to note how utterly charming it is. Boys Go to Jupiter is a slacker movie for hustlers. For the people who have fallen asleep at work while chasing an impossible dream, only to realize that the real dream is the reality that’s going on all around them.
support your local film critic!
~
support your local film critic! ~
Beyond the Cinerama Dome is run by one perpetually tired film critic
and her anxious emotional support chihuahua named Frankie.
Your kind donation means Frankie doesn’t need to get a job…yet.
Follow me on BlueSky, Instagram, Letterboxd, YouTube, & Facebook. Check out Movies with My Dad, a new podcast recorded on the car ride home from the movies.