Bullied high school student Tommy is suddenly befriended by his chief tormentor, Matt, the school's most popular student and star athlete. Tommy is suspicious, but is forced to accept the awkward friendship in order to enter a cooking contest with a big prize. And besides, it's so much easier to impress his crush, Sarah, when he's not getting beat up by Matt and his team. As the cooking contest heats up, Sarah sniffs out a conspiracy, but nobody wants to hear about it. Can Tommy trust his budding friendship with Matt or is it all a huge joke on him?
Acting
Kenton Duty sells Matt's desperate need to be liked.
Writing
The cooking contest as metaphor actually *works*.
Direction
Gay subtext handled with surprising 2013 nuance.
Director
Anthony Joseph Giunta
Kenton Duty
Matt Prylek
Danny Flaherty
Tommy Dolen
Mary Beth Peil
Angela Maria 'Gran' Tucci
Katherine McNamara
Sarah O'Malley
Kyle Dean Massey
Kyle Prylek
Chris Riggi
Ned
Jan Uczkowski
Philip King
Tina Benko
Rhonda
Raviv Ullman
Rip Barker
Kelley Missal
Anya Bartosh
Alex Boniello
Joe Grasso
Owen Teague
Bobby Butler
Jake Schwencke
Nate Quigley
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released in 2013, this quietly queer-coded teen film arrived just before Love, Simon cracked the mainstream, making its 'will-they-won't-they' subtext feel both dated and strangely radical.
Director Anthony Giunta originally developed this as a short film after observing real high school cooking competitions where social hierarchies collapsed over shared burners.
US
