Actress and writer Jillian Bell, known for her roles in Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019) and the recent Kinda Pregnant (2025), flexes her directorial muscles for the first time in Summer of 69, a coming-of-age buddy comedy about friendship, self-confidence, and one of the most joked-about sexual positions of all time. With this heartfelt and wacky flick, Bell begins to carve out space for herself as a writer/director, creating something that feels unashamed, genuine, and deeply personal in its story, style, and themes. Written by Bell, Jules Byrne (Ready), and Liz Nico (Ready), Summer of 69 is unmistakably a girl-power movie, celebrating self-confidence and friendships among women while also validating their desire for romance. Brought to life by a delightful cast which includes Chloe Fineman (Saturday Night Live; Babylon) and Sam Morelos (That ‘90s Show), along with cameos from Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation), Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Alex Moffat (Saturday Night Live), and YouTube star Liza Koshy, to name a few, Summer of 69 embraces the awkwardness of the teen years and celebrates adolescence in all its weirdness. Its honest and unfiltered approach to the teen experience results in a mixed bag of relatable, laugh-out-loud moments and disorienting, awkward scenes that don’t quite stick the landing. While the tone, humor, and dialogue can be uneven, Summer of 69 is a fun and uplifting watch.
L-R: Sam Morelos as Abby and Chloe Fineman as Santa Monica in SUMMER OF 69. Photo courtesy of Hulu.
Sam Morelos stars as Abby, an awkward and inexperienced senior at a private Catholic high school who’s been crushing on the same guy since kindergarten. In a strong and engaging intro narrated by Abby, we learn that the object of her affection, Max (Matt Cornett (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series)), has finally called things off with his long-time girlfriend. Abby only has a short time to win him over before graduation, and word on the street is that Max has quite a bit of experience in “the bedroom department.” To gain confidence and impress him, Abby hires a stripper known as Santa Monica (Chloe Fineman) to teach her the basics. Santa Monica is understandably hesitant to help, until she realizes that Abby is wealthy. Abby agrees to pay Santa Monica $20,000 — the exact amount that Santa Monica and her coworkers need to save their strip club from being bought out. Once Abby begins lessons with her “sexual fairy godmother,” she realizes she has a lot more to learn than she initially thought.
L-R: Paula Pell as Betty Spaghetti, Nicole Byer as Destiny, and Liza Koshy as Angel in SUMMER OF 69. Photo courtesy of Hulu.
Summer of 69 starts off remarkably strong. With two elaborate fantasy sequences, refreshing humor, and engaging voice-over narration, the first 15-ish minutes of the movie establish a fun, over-the-top style with just a splash of camp — perfect for a teen comedy. Mixing farcical, self-deprecating, and surreal humor, Bell effectively shows us the world through the eyes of a lovestruck (but clueless) teenager. She lets us into Abby’s inner world with nuanced voice-over narration, which Morelos delivers with confidence and charm.
Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t maintain the momentum of its first 15 minutes. Abby’s voice-over becomes less frequent and the humor becomes hit or miss. While Summer of 69 has a fantastic grasp on the teen experience, it can’t quite figure out how to incorporate the adult themes and conflicts of Santa Monica’s life. In terms of character and story development, Santa Monica needs some kind of motivation to take a job teaching a teen girl about self-confidence and sex, so it’s necessary for her to be in financial trouble. However, the side plot about a rich, greedy villain (Charlie Day) threatening to take away Santa Monica’s beloved strip club is a cheap fix. It’s an overused, templated plot, and it makes parts of Summer of 69 feel shallow and forced. The first scene with Santa Monica and her fellow strippers (Liza Koshy, Nicole Byer, and Paula Pell) marks a sudden and disappointing shift in tone, abandoning Abby’s comedic narration for unrealistic, surface-level dialogue. Fineman, Koshy (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts; Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken), Byer (Thelma; The Bob’s Burgers Movie), and Pell (Sisters; Inside Out) do their best to bring a lively comedic energy to the scene, but it just doesn’t strike the same tone as the strong and stylistic opening.
L-R: Sam Morelos as Abby and Chloe Fineman as Santa Monica in SUMMER OF 69. Photo courtesy of Hulu.
One thing that makes the opening of Summer of 69 so strong is Abby’s immersive fantasy world. From the moment that you see an engagement ring magically appear on Abby’s finger as she loses herself in a daydream about marrying Max and taking out a mortgage with him, all because he says he’s single, you know you’re in for a fun ride. Summer of 69 lovingly makes fun of the fantasizing and romanticizing that so many young girls do, hilariously illustrating how we can turn a totally irrelevant comment from a crush into a full-blown plan for the future. It’s a self-aware kind of humor, recognizing the role of fantasy in women’s lives while also showing how it can get out of hand. The other major fantasy sequence, which takes place in the middle of the movie and involves a sexual haunted house, isn’t executed as smoothly as the others, and it comes across as more of an inside joke for Bell and the other writers. Still, it’s refreshing to see filmmakers like Bell exploring fantasy and imagination in such a uniquely feminine way.
L-R: Director Jillian Bell and actress Sam Morelos on the set of SUMMER OF 69. Photo courtesy of Hulu.
Unfortunately, Summer of 69 turns on itself right after that sexual haunted house sequence. When Abby finally discusses her wild imagination with Santa Monica, explaining that her daydreams are a means of escape when she gets anxious, Santa Monica discourages her from getting lost in those fantasies and gives her techniques for staying present in the moment. It’s good advice for real life, but in the movie, it feels like narrative betrayal. Abby’s fantasies are what give Summer of 69 its unique style and special brand of humor and discouraging them within the plot diminishes their value. It might have worked better if the script had fully embraced Abby’s fantasies as a key storytelling device, blurring the lines between her inner world and reality as a means to explore the unique experiences of girlhood (a la Crazy Ex-Girlfriend).
Matt Cornett as Max in SUMMER OF 69. Photo courtesy of Hulu.
Still, Summer of 69 celebrates teen girls’ experiences and feminist themes in other ways. It represents two very different feminine experiences, validating the coming-of-age process in its various forms. Abby and Santa Monica represent opposite ends of a spectrum: the totally clueless girl with low self-confidence and limited knowledge of sex, and the totally confident woman who has been sexually active since she was a teenager. The movie celebrates both types of women, highlighting the value in both experiences and pointing to commonalities between them.
Fineman and Morelos are equally delightful and charming in their respective roles, and together, they’re a riot. Fineman gives an honest performance as Santa Monica, cleverly switching between the character’s genuine self (the person she is around her girlfriends) and the entertainer she has to be at work. She demonstrates a full range of strengths and vulnerabilities, supporting the movie’s message that even the most confident women have their weak spots. Likewise, Morelos is funny and genuine, adding her own brand of quirkiness and awkwardness to an already well-written character.
Charlie Day as Rick Richards in SUMMER OF 69. Photo courtesy of Hulu.
Half of Summer of 69 is a relatable teen movie that taps into the weirdness of girlhood with clever panache, while the other half is a templated feel-good movie with surface-level conflicts and character development. There’s more than enough style and substance to make it worth the watch, but you won’t make it through without cringing or rolling your eyes a few times. It’s quite a mixed bag, but it shows promise, marking a solid directorial debut for Bell.
Available on Hulu May 9th, 2025.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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