
I thought Cooper Raiff’s ‘Shitshow’ was going to be one of college-age party movies and that’s really not one of my favorite genres, but guess what, it’s one of the most romantic films of the year. In the film, Alex (Raiff) goes to a common area at his dorm after his roommate has an ‘accident,’ and from there his RA sees him and they have one of those nights where they start one place and ends up at another and what happens is akin to a Gen Z version of ‘Before Sunrise.’ They go on and have sex, dig up and rebury her pet turtle, and ends up back at her bed. What happens afterwards is awkward, but real. Raiff has a good ear for dialogue and the encounter never feels forced. It is quite romantic, but at the same time anti as they both try as kids are wont – to reconcile their feelings. It’s a heartfelt film, and you won’t even realize it touching you until it does.One complaint though – I think I would have liked the film if it were more open-ended, instead of Raiff tagging it with that ‘epilogue.’