Rating: NR | Runtime: 105 minutes
Release Date: October 24th, 2025 (USA)
Studio: Blue Fox Entertainment
Director(s): Rob Grant
Writer(s): Rob Grant / Michael Simon Baker & Rob Grant (story)

What? You don’t like cats?

The youngest son of a very Mormon family in Syracuse, Simon (Maxwell Jenkins) is discovering that he has no allies within the confines of his home. Not only are his parents (Robert Longstreet and Alana Hawley Purvis) strict to the point of being oppressive wardens, but his older brother (David Feehan) has become their eyes and ears on the ground to serve him up for punishment whenever he dares to do anything one could construe as fun. His latest transgression? Missing curfew. It proves to be the nail in the coffin of Simon’s future social life.

So, in a moment of desperation that feels like survival, Simon cajoles his friends into joining him for one last hurrah. While some of the details are shared (the wad of cash paying for the weekend getaway to Ottawa is stolen from the church funds his father had to lead a congregation trip), others are most definitely not (their supposed host, Nikki Roumel’s Shelly, whom they just met the previous night, is not expecting their arrival). What matters, though, is that they all know Simon needs this. Heck, they need it too.

This latest Breakfast Club-inspired poster (see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, Bottoms, et al.) is both intentional in the sense that writer/director Rob Grant sought to create a kindred coming-of-age teen comedy and in his characters’ ambitions to use the John Hughes template for their own adventure while remaining cognizant of the fact its sentimental optimism isn’t fully conducive to reality. Yes, This Too Shall Pass still seeks to provide Simon his “dare to dream moment,” but it isn’t without a heavy dose of instructive misfortune.

The whole enterprise unsurprisingly begins with Simon beaten and bloodied in the back of a police car, waxing on about the journey to get there. Think of it as a confessional of sorts with Officer Harris (Chris Sandiford)—and us—serving as his priest. It’s not that the teen is necessarily looking for absolution, though. Simon is simply trying to work through everything to understand where he went wrong. The answer: where didn’t he? Theft, lies, fraud, self-pity, love … maybe even kidnapping across an international border considering the false pretenses.

He’s the naive protagonist trying to pack in as much sin as possible before his family turns him into an automaton. Tim (Ben Cockell) is the facilitator thanks to a mother (Joanne Kelly) with a laissez-faire attitude that ultimately reveals its own two-sided reality. Chris (Jeremy Ray Taylor) is the life of the party to his own drunken puke-stained detriment. John (Aidan Laprete) is the wild card who’s always selfishly seeking fun. And James (Jaylin Webb) is the movie-loving realist whose race demands that he see the consequences they can’t.

Grant injects a bit of Monkey’s Paw chaos by presenting his quintet opportunities for excitement before turning their smiles upside down by revealing the common stereotype of Canadians being nice is more anecdotal than universal. So, what should be a straight line to adventure with money in-hand and a love interest’s roof over their heads devolves into seedy motel bars, five-finger discounts, and the hospitality of strangers. That last part doesn’t seem too bad until you factor in the boys’ age and immaturity. If it can go poorly, it will.

But that’s exactly what a good coming-of-age story needs. It’s not about getting the girl, bucking authority, and thinking you’re untouchable from fate’s cruel inevitability. It’s about learning why you can’t get them, where that specific authority went wrong, and why accepting responsibility for one’s actions is a crucial learning experience to become an empathetic member of society. Misty (Katie Douglas), Helen (Saylor McPherson), Sophie (Jade V. Robinson), and Eric (Dylan Floyde) aren’t one-dimensional romantic targets. They’re mirrors.

Sophie is put together; John is a mess. Eric is confident in his identity; Tim is lost. Misty owns her fears by sharing them with the world; Simon represses them. Helen and James are sweet and authentic—everyone should probably just watch them and adjust accordingly. As Simon says, however, they’re still teens (save Eric). Being stupid and making mistakes is part of the deal. Even Officer Harris gets it. There’s a difference between malicious destruction and things getting out of hand. The same goes for a lack of boundaries versus the freedom to fail.

So, while it works nicely as its own film, This Too Shall Pass also succeeds at being a worthwhile critique of what Hughes’ scripts provide. It shows the dark side of absentee parenting. Corrects the representation of Black and gay characters. And shatters the fantasy that “grand gestures” are a catch-all to get your way instead of compromise, conversation, and understanding. It may have the same feel and soundtrack of your problematic 80s faves, but Grant’s use of a contemporary lens allows its lessons to hit with honest (albeit lucky) stakes above the nostalgia.

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Aidan Laprete, Katie Douglas, and Jeremy Ray Taylor in THIS TOO SHALL PASS; courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment.