Rated Greg’s Top 5 Summer Love Movies

1. Adventureland
2. Call Me By Your Name
3. American Pie 2
4. Y Tu Mama Tambien
5. Summer Catch

Call Me By Your Name is a summer crush story set in the Italian countryside of 1983 and is based on a highly regarded book of the same name.  It’s a beautiful looking film with wonderful performances from stars Timothee Chalamet (Lady Bird) and Armie Hammer, but I was at first a little confused/surprised that it’s been pretty much universally championed without much push back against age differences of the leads (Chalamet is playing a 17 year old and I knew Hammer is in his early 30’s in real life).  However researching after the fact, I realized Hammer was supposed to be playing a 24 year old, a detail I must have missed in the bathroom.  Anyways, while that’s still a little dicey, failing the “half your age plus 7” rule, it’s not quite Roy Moore territory I guess.  Plus, again it’s based on a book.  Books get weird sometimes.

Back to the actual film. Scenery-wise you’d be hard pressed to find better a looking setting (think Master of None season 2) and the acting is definitely deserving of the Oscar buzz it’s getting.  I do think CMBYN meanders too much in the latter half (it’s 132 minutes) but there are two EXCEPTIONAL scenes well worth the price of admission.  One is an Armie Hammer dancing scene that lit the internet a fire and became a meme well before the wide release of the movie.  I won’t spoil the other, only to say that is extremely affecting and will lead you to reminisce about the your own first love.  Grade: A-