“BRIAN”

Poor Brian Ballard (Ben Wang). He just wanted to play Marc Antony in his high school’s production of “Julius Caesar,” but when the drama club teacher wouldn’t give him any feedback on his audition, Brian’s anxiety got the better of him, leading to another one of his regular public meltdowns, ending with him calling the teacher a “fucking asshole.” Frustrated with himself and desperate for something that could be his thing, Brian decides to run for student government because his teacher crush, Brooke (Natalie Morales), is the faculty advisor. No one believes he can do it except for the new kid, Justin (Joshua Colley, who is effortlessly popular and cool in all the ways that Brian isn’t). Justin becomes Brian’s campaign manager and new best friend. As the election gets closer, though, how will Brian cope with the increased attention and likelihood of things going wrong?

It doesn’t take long for Will Ropp’s coming-of-age comedy “Brian” to ring painfully, hilariously true. The very first dialogue exchange between Brian and his older, cooler brother, Kyle (Sam Song Li), will cause anyone with siblings to wince in recognition. Screenwriter Mike Scollins captures the rhythms of how teenagers speak with pinpoint precision, crafting incredibly funny dialogue that feels current and timeless. That hilarious dialogue is the film’s biggest selling point, thanks to equal effort from Scollins, Ropp, and the ensemble of fantastic actors. Ropp keeps the pace up while allowing room for the emotional moments to breathe, keeping the film engaging beyond the jokes. He and Scollins also walk an incredibly tricky tonal line with the film’s plentiful cringe comedy: Brian’s outbursts (one of which he describes as a panic attack) could make the audience cringe in a bad way, but because of how unexpected and daring the humor is, it ends up being more funny than embarrassingly awkward. Once again, Ropp’s pacing, the sharply observed dialogue, and the committed performances work in perfect harmony to make it come together in the most entertaining way possible.

As the film’s end-credits selection of alternate takes shows, the cast members were on fire during filming, and Ropp does strong work corralling them into a unified ensemble. Every character has their own distinct personality that fits into the whole like a series of puzzle pieces, and when they all lock together, magic happens. The instantly familiar brotherly dynamic between Brian and Kyle is neatly reflected in the personalities of their parents; the whole family is sarcastic and honest about it. They rib each other, but they accept it as familial bonding, because it’s clearly done with love. Randall Park and Edi Patterson, as Brian’s parents, beautifully thread the needle of being supportive of their son while seeing his actions as out of character, for both good (a new friend!) and bad (running for class president). Colley has a winning screen presence and a laidback personality that makes it easy to see why Justin thrives even as a new kid. The inevitable arc of Brian and Justin’s friendship feels completely believable because of Colley’s savvy portrayal.

“Brian” is Wang’s movie, though, and he makes good on the promise he showed as one of the standouts in the ensemble of last year’s “The Long Walk.” His affable screen presence and crackerjack comic timing make him a delight to watch, and he’s able to modulate his performance so that you really feel Brian’s anxiety creeping up and exploding almost against his will. It’s a winning performance, one in which the character’s coming-of-age arc syncs up quite nicely with its star’s career trajectory. Like Emma Stone in “Easy A” or Timothée Chalamet in “Call Me By Your Name,” Wang should find himself on Hollywood’s A-list after this.

Given how well “Brian” works, it’s tempting to call it a miracle of a movie, simply because this humor shouldn’t play this well. But that’s not a miracle, that’s just everyone working on a film being perfectly aligned on how to tell the story they’re telling. That shouldn’t be miraculous, but it feels that way, especially considering this is Ropp’s feature directorial debut. His inexperience only shows through in the film’s visual style, which mostly consists of a filter that makes it look like it’s from a prior era. But the sharpness of the film’s editing and aforementioned tight control over its tone show that he’s on the right path as a storyteller. Who knows where his career will go from here, but “Brian” is about as good a start as he could have hoped for.