Note - This review was originally published on April 27th. Struck By Lightning is now available on iTunes and VOD.
Spoiler alert: This review discusses plot details for the filmStruck by Lightning.
Not many teen comedies bother trying to take an honest look at the real and sometimes insurmountable obstacles faced by even the best and brightest during the tumultuous high school years.
Then again, not many teen comedies begin by killing their main character off in the first 90 seconds.
Struck By Lightning, directed by Brian Dannelly and written by and starring Glee star Chris Colfer, isn't your typical teen movie. It isn't even your atypical teen movie – you know, the anti-establishment screeds spawned by the brilliant (and possibly even dangerous) Heathers that made the '90s a renaissance of outsider teen entertainment. But while everything from The Craft to Drive Me Crazy to Never Been Kissed delighted in subverting the high school power structure, very few of those films tried to actually accomplish anything within it.
In Lightning, Colfer plays Carson Phillips, a smart and ambitious teen whose only life goals are to become the editor of The New Yorker, be the youngest person to be published by The New York Times, and win the Nobel Peace Prize and Pulitzer Prize for journalism (and I may be leaving out a few). But first, he must get out of his podunk hometown of Clover, which for him means getting accepted into Northwestern University. If you haven't noticed, Carson knows what he wants – and as we soon learn, he isn't afraid to break a few eggs to get to the New Yorker cafeteria's omelet bar.
Chris Colfer and Rebel Wilson
Upon the advice of his professionally inept career counselor (Angela Kinsey, at her most delightfully batty), Carson decides to start a literary magazine at his school – despite the fact that the newspaper (which he also runs) is a total failure. When he can't get anyone to submit to the magazine, Carson decides to force his classmates into contributing to his dream by blackmailing them with their dirty secrets, which he uncovers with the help of his only friend, a camera-happy loser and failed writer named Malerie (Bridesmaids' awesome Rebel Wilson). Among his targets are a philandering cheerleader (Modern Family's Sarah Hyland), a prissy know-it-all with a dirty side (Suburgatory's amazing Allie Grant), and a few closeted gay guys ... well, one's the president of Drama Club, so his closet is probably filled with tulle – but his down low BF isn't ready to come out yet.
So sure, Struck by Lightning may share the same basic setup as plenty of other teen flicks where an outsider uses the hypocrisy of the school's ruling class against them. But while the thrill of these setups usually comes from the outsider's pleasure in watching the high-functioning kids squirm when they're revealed to be less-than-perfect, in this case their tormenter really just wants to get into college. Carson isn't a moralist, he's an opportunist – but when his scheme has the unintended effect of actually getting some of his classmates to think more deeply about their goals and ambitions, he welcomes the chance to try and change things for the better for everyone.
As the film's rather unlikable central character, Colfer is great – he's still playing a pithy, super-smart kid in the Kurt Hummel mold, but Carson is far more jaded and less prone to throwing glitter on his problems. Carson is prickly, uncompromising, and sometimes downright mean, which is fascinating to watch – every move he makes has an undercurrent of barely-concealed rage. It's actually surprising that his character didn't explode on his own before the lightning got to him.
Chris Colfer and Allison Janney
Applying the lion's share of the pressure on Carson is his mother, a painfully sad woman who has resigned herself to a lonely life as a single loser propped up by pills and booze. Allison Janney is wonderful in the role – the weight of her decision to give up on her own life hangs on her like an albatross, especially when it begins to come clear just how much her decisions have affected her only son. Carson is also deeply troubled by the gradual loss of his grandmother (Polly Bergen) to Alzheimer's, which renders her unable to recognize her grandson. His absentee father (Dermot Mulroney) is also back in Carson's life after his attempts to marry his new, pregnant fiancee (Christina Hendricks) hit a snag because he never got officially divorced.
If this all sounds a bit bleak, that's because it kind of is. But thanks to Colfer's witty dialog and Dannelly's proven ability to balance tough dramatic themes with unexpected humor (something he did brilliantly in Saved!), it feels lighter than the sum of its weighty parts. Frequently very funny, Struck By Lightning is more or less a comedy – but like Carson's ambition, it comes from a place of rage: Colfer reportedly wrote the skeleton of the story as a means of letting off steam in high school, where he felt misunderstood by his lazy and unambitious classmates. That frustration is clearly communicated in the finished product, which is actually fairly dark for a teen comedy that doesn't end with someone blowing up the school.
It's also interesting to note that while the dirt he uses to entrap his classmates and teachers is primarily sexy-time in nature, Carson himself is presented as completely asexual – he's never identified as either gay or straight, and is defined almost entirely by his ambitions. He's also an equal opportunity extortionist, using indiscretions of all orientations to blackmail his classmates. Considering that Colfer's Glee character has been primarily identified by his sexuality from the get-go, it's an interesting contrast (and possibly one that was deliberately designed). And of course Colfer is openly gay in real life as well – a choice he made early in his career despite the resounding echo of Hollywood wisdom that audiences won't accept openly gay actors in straight roles. Is the world ready to see Colfer as a straight romantic lead? No idea. But maybe this movie demonstrates that they don't need to be. (If you asked Carson, he'd probably tell you that romance is overrated anyway.)
I realize I'm focusing a bit on Lightning's more serious elements here, because I do think the film sets itself apart from much teen fare by tackling some weighty issues without the safety net of irony or sarcasm. But it really is very funny, featuring crisp, smart dialog and moments of inspired physical comedy (not to mention the monumentally awkward Malerie, who steals every scene she's in). It's never quite clear if the titular power surge is an act of God, a tragedy, or the punctuation mark on a cautionary tale – and I don't think Colfer and Dannelly ever intended to speak in such clear-cut turns. While it may not provide the most satisfying resolution to its adult exploration of adolescent ambition, inspiration and social pressures, the lesson in Struck By Lightning may be that there are no easy answers. If so, I have a feeling that we can expect Colfer to keep asking the questions.
