A starring vehicle for “Stranger Things” actor Gaten Matarazzo, the new stoner comedy is “Pizza Movie” built around an incredibly dumb idea, but hey, isn’t that the core principle of 4/20 films? In the absurdist comedy, some college freshmen—Sean Giambrone (“The Goldbergs”), Lulu Wilson (“The Wrath Of Becky”), and more— take a terrifying, hallucinogenic drug, only to discover they need pizza to keep their brains from short-circuiting. Given this is THC theater, they, naturally, then spend the rest of the night making a manageable situation catastrophically worse. Written and directed by Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher (“Saturday Night Live,” “BriTANick”), the filmmakers keep pushing the joke without overplaying it, and the movie never loses sight of the amusing panic underneath all the stupidity. “Pizza Movie” understands the nature of being that age, when a minor crisis can take over your whole world, and a couple of friends beside you can make a total disaster feel almost survivable.
A delirious rush through young-adult stupidity, the film plays like “Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle” and “Superbad” got lost in a dorm-room funhouse. It’s messy in the way a great party is messy, occasionally running on fumes, but always finding another gear when you least expect it.
What starts as a simple mission to go two floors down quickly mutates into something far stranger, blending sketch-comedy insanity with a surprisingly sincere coming-of-age backbone. The ensemble, led by Matarazzo and also including Jack Martin, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Marcus Scribner, Caleb Hearon, Sarah Sherman, Justin Cooley, and Daniel Radcliffe, gives the film its heart and charm. The film even received a raucous standing ovation at its SXSW premiere.
READ MORE: ‘Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come’: Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy On Expanding The Occult Universe, Writing For Samara Weaving, and ‘Scream 7’ Backlash [The Discourse Podcast]
When the cast and writer/director duo joined The Discourse, it became immediately clear that the chemistry wasn’t manufactured in some sterile rehearsal room. It was built the old-fashioned way: hanging out, goofing off, and becoming a believable unit.
“We had some mutual friends, so we got to hang out a good chunk of time before the movie,” Matarazzo said, describing the pre-existing bond with Wilson. Giambrone, who came in as the new kid in this particular sandbox, found himself absorbed into the group almost instantly. “They’re just a sweet group that you can just feel so relaxed,” he said. “I felt like I was hanging out with some best friends throughout the whole time.”
Behind the scenes, the process mirrored the movie’s vibe: controlled chaos with just enough structure to keep it from completely flying off the rails.
“It was a good mix,” Wilson said of the balance between script and improvisation. “We would have new pages every morning, but they were very collaborative. If we had ideas, they would tell us if it was stupid or if it was really funny.”
That push-and-pull between precision and freedom is exactly what Kocher and McElhaney were chasing. Turns out their “BriTANick” YouTube comedy video background prepared them more than anything.
“We love moving things at a hyper pace,” Kocher explained. “When you’re making videos for the internet, people’s attention span is very short. And now that’s true for streaming movies too.”
But speed alone wasn’t enough.
“We wanted to create these pockets where we could go full sketch and go balls to the wall and then slow down a bit,” McElhaney said. “So you can live with the characters.”
That tonal whiplash is part of the design, pulling from influences like “Superbad,” “21 Jump Street,” and “Dude, Where’s My Car?” while also sneaking in surprisingly grand swings inspired by films like “Lord of the Rings” and “Inglourious Basterds.”
“Everything you just mentioned was absolutely an influence,” Kocher said. “But we also love playing with genre and leaning into the heightened reality of certain moments.”
That elasticity extends to performance, especially with Giambrone.
“Sean just is that,” Kocher said. “We realized really early on we need to lean into this as hard as possible.”
“We would go, ‘Okay, let’s do another take. Sean, you’re not allowed to say any of the scripted lines,” McElhaney added. “And words would come out of his mouth that were insane and better than anything we could write.”
Even Matarazzo, pulling double duty as star and executive producer, found himself navigating that same balance.
“It took me a bit to gain a sense of confidence to be able to raise my hand and ask questions,” he said. “But they made it a very comfy experience to come up with ideas on the fly.”
Still, he acknowledged the real perk of the title.
“It was a good green light for me to just be insufferable,” he joked. “But that’s in my rider for everything I do.”
As chaotic as the film feels, there were moments during production where the filmmakers realized they might actually have something that works beyond just a string of bits.
“There’s a scene where they have a fight… and we were like, okay, they have to sell this,” McElhaney recalled. “And when that worked, we were like… alright, we might have a movie.”
That confidence was hard-earned, especially given how much material didn’t survive the edit.
“The first cut was like two hours long,” Kocher said. “We cut a few minutes.”
“Thirty minutes.”
And then there’s the title.
“I hated the title,” Kocher admitted. “I was so against it… and then we came up with a joke where I was allowed to hate it in the movie. And I was like, great, okay, I love it now.”
That self-awareness runs through every frame of “Pizza Movie.” It knows exactly what it is: a chaotic, hyperactive ride about bad decisions, good friends, and the universal truth that everything feels more important when you’re young, slightly out of your mind, and very, very hungry.
Listen to the full interviews with Gaten Matarazzo, Lulu Wilson, Sean Giambrone, and filmmakers Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney via the podcast link below, or enjoy the video interview with the cast via The Playlist’s YouTube Page:
The Discourse is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes Deep Focus, Bingeworthy, and more. We can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the embed within the article. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.
