2 Girls, 1 Guy: "Banana Split" a charming, funny high-school comedy gem


Banana Split (2020) 
84 min.
Release Date: March 27, 2020 (Digital & VOD)

Having already directed her first feature film (2019's "After Everything"), 26-year-old Hannah Marks puts her elders to shame by moving on to co-write the script (with Joey Power) and share co-lead duties in “Banana Split,” a lovable platonic love story between a high school girl and her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. This indie pleasure marks the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Benjamin Kasulke (2014’s “Laggies”), and as the cherry on top, it makes a solid calling card for Marks. It might not have the marketable star power of, say, a “Mean Girls,” but this isn’t just a warmed-over “Booksmart,” either. Snappily written, emotionally true and often very funny, “Banana Split” charms in its own special way. 

After a car ride listening to Top 40 and a stop at the diner for some corned beef, high school sophomores April (Hannah Marks) and Nick (Dylan Sprouse) have a makeout session that springs into a two-year relationship. (Before the title card, the giddy highs and bittersweet lows of their high school romance come through fully formed in an efficient montage.) Once they get into different colleges and keep bickering in between sleeping together, April and Nick break up. In the summer after high school graduation and before college orientation, April is still hung up on Nick and surprised that he has moved on from her so quickly to date new-in-town girly-girl Clara (Liana Liberato). April’s friends get her out to a house party, where Clara happens to be in attendance. Even though Clara and Nick are an item—and Clara likewise knows that April and Nick were an item—the girls are so compatible that they don’t let this awkward situation come between them and even make it a rule not to bring Nick up into the conversation. Can their secret friendship survive?

Besides Nick being the initial commonality that gets April and Clara talking, “Banana Split” owns a wise, empowering quality that proves young women can have healthy friendships without fighting over a guy. The premise only sounds like a gimmicky sitcom, but Hannah Marks and Joey Power’s script trusts enough in the character-based scenes between April and Clara, who share similar music taste and a sarcastic sense of humor. In a lesser film, April would pretend not to recognize Clara and keep it to herself. In the actual film, it’s not even a misunderstanding when they meet, as they both know who the other is and that’s how their friendship blossoms.

“Banana Split” is another welcome high school comedy audiences probably didn’t think they wanted. As far as up-and-coming talent goes, Hannah Marks (2019’s “Daniel Isn’t Real”) is a true find, and she and the appealing Liana Liberato (2014’s “If I Stay”) effortlessly click with a sparky, lovely rapport that April and Clara do feel like soul mates. Addison Riecke and Jessica Hecht also earn laughs in their scene-stealing moments as April’s profane, adult-mouthed little sister Agnes, who knows way more than she should, and their open, oversharing single mother Susan. Dylan Sprouse (the “other” twin that isn’t Cole) is never vilified, nor should he be, making Nick a charming-enough stoner who might be difficult to get over. For those in need of something smaller in scale and made from the heart, “Banana Split” delights as one of the year’s sweetest gems.

Grade: B +

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