'Peak Season' is a late twentysomething anti-rom-com | movie review

Peak Season follows a burnt-out young professional who escapes to Wyoming where she strikes up a friendship with a local fishing guide

On its surface, Peak Season is a light, charming big city girl meets small town boy romantic-comedy that we've seen countless times. But as it goes on it surprises you with its surprisingly complex philosophical musings about life, what we want, and what we think want. Where Peak Season ends up is more emotional but life-affirming than you can imagine for a romantic-comedy. If anything, it's a late twentysomething dramedy that is as deeply introspective and life-affirming as it is charming and funny.

Peak Season premiered at the SXSW 2023 Film Festival.

Peak Season has all the makings of a Hallmark movie. The stressed out New Yorker escaping to a small town, her workaholic hotshot fiancé, and the charming mountain man who believes in his solitude. But this is no Hallmark movie and this is not a romantic comedy. While it may initially seem that way on the surface and its commentary on the millennial experience of success, burnout, and life choices derivative, Peak Season surprises you with its depth and understanding. While it remains charming and funny throughout, it begs complex questions about our own lives.

Amy (Claudia Restrepo) is a burnt out former consultant who escapes to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for peace and quiet with her fiance Max (Ben Coleman) before their upcoming nuptials. Much like Britney Spears in that one movie, she's at a crossroads. Staring down marriage and an open career path are terrifying things. Loren (Derrick Joseph DeBlasis), on the other hand, is a laid back mountain man who makes ends meet by picking up odd jobs around town — whether a shift washing dishes at a local restaurant, landscaping, or giving the rich out-of-towners fishing lessons.

When we first meet Loren, he's counseling one of his clients who's beginning to see the possibilities of living the rural life. Loren genuinely loves it and enthusiastically urges him to take the jump. But, of course, there's his wife and kids. It's a pipe dream. The story of every one passing through the town. That's until he meets Amy. She doesn't quite fit in with the influx of affluent vacationers voyeuristically observing “the other side of the country” but unable to even consider leaving their lives for it.

When she first arrives at the mountain mansion that Max has found for them through a mutual friend she quickly makes friends with the housekeeper — speaking to her in Spanish — and has genuine interest in exploring the natural beauty of Grand Teton National Park. That's in comparison to Fiona (Caroline Kwan), Max's acquaintance they run into, who seems more interested in taking sexy pictures with cows (in her cowboy cowprint getup, of course) and attending a trendy CrossFit class than actually taking in the landscape around her.

After their dryly humorous first fishing journey complete with tobacco chewing and fishing bibs, Amy and Loren constantly run into each other. Matters are complicated when Max is called back to the city for a work crisis and Amy is left to her devices. Whether it's her curiosity that keeps her coming back to Loren or genuine interest is unclear. But each time they hang out, their conversations, while romantic and charmingly witty (the movie's humor is dry but hilarious), are loaded with subtext from their life decisions. Should Amy leave it all (her wedding, her career) for the simple life? Does Loren regret leaving his? You may come to the movie for light comedy, but it'll surprise you with its complex understanding of the journey so many thirtysomethings face.

Over the course of the movie I found myself frustrated. I knew (or at least thought I knew) where the story was going. I've seen it a thousand times before. Then, it doesn't go there. Writer-directors Steven Kanter and Henry Loevner instead explore a more realistic path. One that confronts the human battle between what we want, what we think we want and what is possible. Amy and Loren remind me of Jesse and Celine from Richard Linklater's Before series or Harry and Sally from Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally. While there is certainly a romantic spark, it's their philosophical discussions about their views (or lack thereof) of life that fuel their time together.

Where Peak Season ends up is more emotional but life-affirming than you can imagine for a romantic-comedy. I don't even know if it could be categorized as one. It's a charming thirtysomething dramedy about settling — whether settling down or just settling for something. You'll even find yourself questioning your own decisions. But the beauty of Kanter and Loevner's screenplay is that it never judges any of its characters. They make the decisions that are best for them, as scary as that commitment is. What you can commit to is that Peak Season is a quaint indie gem.

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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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Karl Delossantos

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Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.