Slam
By Brian Costello,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Book-based romcom about teen pregnancy; cursing, drugs.
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Slam
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What's the Story?
In SLAM, Sam is an intelligent Roman teenager who idolizes Tony Hawk and lives to skateboard with his friends. During an adult party he is forced to attend, he meets the dry-humored and perceptive Alice, and begin dating shortly after; the "dates," more often than not, are just as likely to center on sex as they might on sitting in the park and listening to music through shared earbuds. While they usually practice safe sex, they don't always, and Alice suspects, then confirms, that she's pregnant. This happens right as Sam has broken up with her; when he gets the news, he realizes that he will be a father at 16 -- the same age his mother was when she had him. As Sam struggles to meet the responsibilities of impending fatherhood while still trying to succeed in school and have a social life, Alice resents that she can't have any of those things. Sam's father, a self-centered malcontent, shirked his fatherly responsibilities with Sam. Sam must find a way to grow up without growing old, and, despite his failed relationship with Alice, be the father to his son that Sam's father never was to him.
Is It Any Good?
Based on the Nick Hornby novel, this movie manages to avoid the many traps and cliches so often seen in stories centered on teen pregnancy. Slam avoids preachiness and painfully forced editorializing on the topic, and finds a sweet humor in the coming-of-age imperfections of the teen characters, and of the equally overwhelmed grandparents-to-be. And while music aficionado Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, among other music-centric books) can't help but give his characters musical tastes more rooted in 1995 than 2017, it doesn't feel as if an adult screenwriter was trying to shoehorn in the relatively sophisticated musical tastes of an avid record collector onto their teen characters (Juno, ahem ahem).
The result is an honest and thoughtful exploration into what happens when teens take on the responsibility of raising a child while still growing up themselves. And so, the comedy and drama is rooted not in a "message" per se, but in the awkwardness and challenge inherent in the undertaking.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about movies like Slam with teen sex. What are some of the ways in which movies past and present have addressed this issue?
This was a film based on a novel by Nick Hornby. What would be the challenges in adapting a novel into a movie?
How does this movie address drug and alcohol use by teens? Are any of these glamorized, or are they presented as a fact of life for many teenagers?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: April 14, 2017
- Cast: Ludovico Tersigni, Jasmine Trinca, Tony Hawk
- Director: Andrea Molaioli
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Comedy
- Topics: Book Characters
- Run time: 98 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: June 3, 2023
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