Boys Go to Jupiter, Julian Glander’s debut feature as writer-director, is one of the weirdest movies you’ll see all year, but it also has an endearing charm that’s hard to resist. It tells a typical coming-of-age tale — ambitious teenage gig worker Billy 5000 sets out to earn $5,000 — but it throws in a gelatinous alien enтιтy causing mischief to shake it up. That’s the genius of this movie: it’s a mind-bending visual odyssey wrapped around a grounded, relatable human story.

There are some big names scattered throughout the voice cast: Janeane Garofalo, Julio Torres, Sarah Sherman, Oh, Mary!’s Cole Escola. Jack Corbett is wonderfully ᴅᴇᴀᴅpan in the lead role of Billy, and Miya Folick gives a warm, laid-back turn as his unrequited love interest, Rozebud. Grace Kuhlenschmidt gives a scene-stealing performance as Billy’s friend Freckles, the kind of brash, blustering, immature loudmouth we all knew as kids.

The standout is Peanut, the youngest (and weirdest) kid in Billy’s group, voiced by J.R. Phillips. Every time Peanut opens his mouth, something hilarious comes out: he ᴀssumes the burrowing alien is a construction worker in a costume; he wants to put on sunscreen just so he doesn’t feel left out; he comes up with a rap he’s eager to share; and he refuses to shoplift a snack because he’s worried God is watching.

Boys Go To Jupiter’s Storytelling Often Feels Aimless, But That’s Part Of The Movie’s Charm

It’s Fun To Just Hang Out With These Quirky Characters

The storytelling is very loose and often feels aimless, but that’s part of its charm. You’re just hanging out with these quirky characters, living in their oddball world. It’s less of a solid three-act plot and more of a series of delightfully strange vignettes. Billy resorts to increasingly unusual methods to reach his financial goal. In one particularly absurd sequence, he chews up a woman’s H๏τ dogs for her in exchange for a $20 tip.

Glander’s naturalistic dialogue has the ring of real conversation. It feels loose and spontaneous and almost improvisational. The banter between the kids is reminiscent of something like Mid90s or Reservation Dogs. These realistic characters and their authentic dialogue create an interesting juxtaposition with the film’s gonzo visual style. The characters don’t look like humans, but they act and sound like real humans.

The imagery in Boys Go to Jupiter has a bewildering SpongeBob-like surrealism. A woman’s face fills the entire windshield of her car. A human-dolphin hybrid is set against a trippy cosmic backdrop. Billy imagines himself floating up off the street and flying through the sky in the middle of a mundane food delivery. The film is full of bizarre musical interludes; there’s a song about trash, a song about flushing an alien down the toilet, and a pᴀssionate acoustic ballad about all the different ways to cook eggs (and they’re all a lot more profound than they seem).

The movie has a mesmerizing score made up of ethereal electronic soundscapes — it almost sounds like a shoegaze playlist — and its depiction of Florida as an eerie parallel dimension is a sharp but affectionate satirical jab at the Sunshine State. The fixed camera angles, blocky environments, and straight lines of movement are often reminiscent of old-school platformers or a mobile game like Crossy Road, or even Minecraft or the original Sims game.

Underneath The Gonzo Visuals, Boys Go To Jupiter Is A Commentary On The Gig Economy

Billy’s Futile Quest To Save Money Is An Incisive Critique Of Capitalism

Somewhere underneath all the absurdity, there’s a sly commentary on capitalism here. Billy spends the whole movie on the brutal grind, doing job after job for a faceless, soulless corporation through an app, and he actually ends up losing money. But this is a coming-of-age story to its core. The climactic scene where Billy is faced with a leap of faith could be seen as a metaphor for growing up and accepting both the freedoms and frustrations of adult life. Boys Go to Jupiter is a relentlessly offbeat movie, but it also has a disarming sweetness.