Kaboom

Gregg Araki, best known for the 1990s nihilistic cult classic The Doom Generation, enters far sunnier territory with Kaboom, an exhilarating blend of carefree sex, biting humor, and sci-fi weirdness that, as its title implies, ends its brief and dizzying run with a bang. Set in Southern California, where the young, beautiful, and mostly unknown cast dresses for maximum exposure, the movie follows Smith (Thomas Dekker), a sexually ambigous film student, as he, his caustic best friend Stella (Haley Bennett), and his enthusiastic hook-up partner London (Juno Temple) experiment with each other and investigate an apocalyptic cult. Smith's laidback charm rests comfortably next to his voracious carnal appetite, and his intelligent relationships with Stella and London offer a refreshingly sincere portrait of teenage trust. Kaboom gleefully shepherds a TV season's worth of storylines into a stylized tornado of candy-colored mystery and instantly quotable dialogue, the latter courtesy of Daria-channeling Stella. Like all of Araki's films, the music in Kaboom is a character unto itself, brimming with choice soundtrack selections (Cut Copy, Ladytron) and a guazy, blissed-out concert scene. Though he's well past his own college days, Araki is a teenager at heart, and Kaboom is his love letter to a wild ride that you don't know you're on till it's over.