It seems that in the last couple of years, the cast of Stranger Things have finally begun to expand outside that universe into different and new projects. Millie Bobby Brown has seen the Enola Holmes series of films thrust her into leading woman territory. Sadie Sink has expanded her supporting roles to include 2022’s The Whale and Dear Zoe. Gaten Matarazzo had a surprise hit last year with Honor Society. Now, Finn Wolfhard got his turn in the lead role with Jesse Eisenberg’s feature directorial debut: 2023’s When You Finish Saving the World.
The story follows Wolfhard as Ziggy, a teenage online musician/influencer and his mother Evelyn, played by Julianne Moore, the owner of a shelter for victims of domestic abuse. The film dives heavily into their dynamics while exploring Ziggy’s crush on fellow high schooler Lila (Alisha Boe), who is heavy into political activism, and Evelyn’s relationship with Kyle (Billy Bryk), a local boy at the shelter whom she uses to try and replace Ziggy as her son since they don’t have a great relationship.
Moore and Wolfhard are the centerpieces of the film, and they absolutely rock. Their dynamic feels real, and I really was impressed with how well acted their characters are. Moore especially really sold me on a woman who spends so much of her life on her career that she doesn’t actually take time to care about her family at home. Wolfhard equally impressed as a high school teenager; an, angsty, cringy, naive boy who doesn’t really know anything about the real world. Their performances were integral to the film and I found both to live up to the task. I do wish, however, that we got more time to see them together. There were only a select few short scenes in the film with the two of them, but more were needed.
I had a real issue with When You Finish Saving the World‘s runtime. It just seemed like the film needed to be longer. It needed more room for the characters to grow and learn. The film sits at only 1h 27m long and frankly you could have made it much closer to 2 hours long. Films like Perks of Being a Wallflower, a personal favorite of mine, reached closer to this length and had much more development because of it. It made the character’s development feel too quick. Heading into the final act we hadn’t seen much, then there is a sudden flip, and the characters change drastically. It’s a shame because the final act is actually quite well done.
I also tended to take issue with how heavily When You Finish Saving the World leaned into the political activism themes. Ziggy’s whole storyline involves him trying to impress a girl who is heavily into “being political” but I felt that this is where the film was at its weakest. Instead of trying to get to know Lila more, he leans so hard to trying to be “fake political” that we don’t really get to see their real dynamic much at all by the time the film ends. It’s a shame because Wolfhard and Alisha Boe have an undeniable chemistry.
I did very much enjoy how well Eisenberg captured the high school dynamic. Many films show high schoolers as unrealistically suave, and others show them all as losers with a complete inability to interact with anyone. Eisenberg navigates that middle ground extremely well, showing that high schoolers are young, naive and awkward, but they’re still real people, not caricatures. Ziggy may not know how to talk to girls really well, but he can interact with his friends and his audience online effortlessly. It felt extremely real and worked in the film’s favor.
Evelyn’s storyline also left a lot to be desired. While Moore’s acting was great, and her desperation to find an emotional replacement for her son is clear, I just think that by the end of the film it becomes too one dimensional to stay interesting. It was a great dynamic to start the film, but it felt it never went anywhere until that switch was flipped at the end of the film. Evelyn became too focused on Kyle that it became her only character trait by the end of the film. It’s a shame because she was a truly interesting character who offered a lot to be explored.
Final Thoughts
Is When You Finish Saving the World the next great coming-of-age film? No, it’s not. But it is worth a watch strictly for the performances, and Eisenberg’s direction shows he has staying power behind the camera. I am glad I have seen it, but it will not jump to the top of my rewatch list anytime soon.
