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Beth + Jeremy and Steve Review
Image Credit: Freestyle Digital Media
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Briana Ratterman– Beth
Matthew Dibiasio– Steve
Lucas Friedman– Jeremy
(you can check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Daniel Hill
Screenplay by Daniel Hill
Distributed by Freestyle Digital Media
Not Rated
Runtime– 91 minutes
Beth + Jeremy and Steve is set to hit all major HD digital internet, satellite, and cable platforms and DVD starting May 30th, 2025
Beth + Jeremy and Steve, written and directed by Daniel Hill and set to hit all major HD digital internet, satellite, and cable platforms and DVD starting May 30th, 2025, is an often hilarious dark comedy about three incredibly flawed people that find themselves in a strange and messy relationship. First there’s Jeremy (Lucas Friedman), a 17-year old high school kid that is unsure of himself after breaking up with his girlfriend. What the heck happened? Why don’t things work out for him? Next, there’s Beth (Briana Ratterman), an unhappy 35 year old married woman that hates her job, hates her husband, and just hates her life in general. What the hell happened to her life? And finally there’s Steve (Matthew Dibiasio), Beth’s husband, who has no idea why his wife is unhappy, think she’s cheating on him, and constantly comes off as a belligerent jerk. But was Steve always like that? What the heck happened to him?
After meeting the three people in their sort of solo environments, the messiness commences when Beth, after going for a “thinking about stuff” walk in downtown Portland, Oregon, walks into a record store to browse through the store’s vinyl collection, hoping to kill some time. While in the store, Beth meets Jeremy, who is also in the store checking out the vinyl, and they start chit chatting. It doesn’t take long for Jeremy and Beth to start flirting with one another, and they exchange phone numbers. Beth tells Jeremy that she just wants to be friends and talk to him about records and music and whatnot, something Jeremy seemingly believes. We then see Beth at home, hooking up a turntable. Beth then calls Jeremy and asks him to come over to her apartment “to talk.” Jeremy goes over and they talk and listen to music and dance. Beth and Jeremy clearly have a connection of some sort.
The scene then shifts to Steve hanging out at a bar with friends. One of Steve’s friends, a woman, flirts with him and clearly likes him, but it’s difficult to tell if he’s interested in reciprocating. Part of that is due to Steve being drunk, a situation that leads to Steve being removed from the bar for being a jerk. We then see Beth and Steve together driving somewhere, and within seconds you can feel the tension between them. You start to wonder if and when they will file for divorce. There’s no way they can survive as a married couple.
So Beth and Jeremy hang out again, and this meeting leads to more dancing and then making out and, presumably, off screen sex. You knew it was probably going to happen, it was only a matter of time, but it actually happening almost seemed spontaneous. The scene then shifts again to Steve, and we see Steve hanging out at the mall alone. We then find out that Steve, too, is having an affair with the woman that flirted with him at the bar earlier.
We then see a brief moment of Beth and Steve getting along, grocery shopping and seemingly having a good time doing it (we find out that Steve likes to eat cereal). When we see them at home, though, they are once again at one another, with Steve eating cereal by hand, one piece at a time, appearing as though he’s a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Beth leaves, claiming that she has a loft to show for possible sale (Beth is a realtor). Beth is actually going to see Jeremy at his house.
So we see Beth hanging out in Jeremy’s house, both Beth and Jeremy lounging around in their underwear and talking about writing and whatnot. And then we see Steve outside, watching Jeremy’s house, knowing that Beth is inside. Steve wants to take the baseball bat he brought with him and, presumably, engage in violence. Steve doesn’t, though. Steve just screams in anger and agony instead.
Now, while we clearly know that there’s massive tension between Beth and Steve, what’s going on with Jeremy? How is he handling his relationship with Beth? In one sense, Jeremy is clearly into hanging out with Beth. He doesn’t tell her he doesn’t want to hang out with her, and he loves sharing his artistic side with her (he likes reading the little poems that she shows him, he likes telling her about why he prefers to write things down with a pen and paper, and there’s the whole vinyl thing). At the same time, there is a sense of “this is weird, isn’t it?” awkwardness about his relationship with Beth. You see it on full display in the high school swim meet that Beth attends. Jeremy had no idea she would be there to watch him swim (Jeremy is a part of his high school’s swim team), and while he doesn’t tell her to get the hell out of there, he is somewhat uneasy about her being there.
And then things escalate when Steve shows up at Jeremy’s high school and confronts him in the hallway. Steve wants Jeremy to tell him why he’s having an affair with his wife. Jeremy doesn’t know how to respond.
Not knowing how to respond is, ultimately, what Beth + Jeremy and Steve is all about. All three characters find themselves in life situations they don’t know how to respond to, at least initially. When they do make a decision for themselves, it inevitably turns out to be the wrong decision (and if you think “wrong” is too harsh, maybe “not ideal” is a better way to describe what happens). And that’s where the movie’s dark comedy comes from. If you think things are messed up now, wait a day. Things will get even more messed up.
A good portion of the movie’s comedy also comes from Steve and his somewhat belligerent personality. Watching Steve act out but also keep things in check is a true sight to behold. Check out the scene where he meets Jeremy’s Mom. Both Jeremy and the audience have no idea what to expect when Steve starts talking. Is he going to tell Jeremy’s Mom the truth? How will she react? And how will Jeremy react? Jeremy’s overall befuddlement is also a source for laughs. Is this really happening to him? Is this older woman really into him? And when Steve reveals himself, is this crazy bald guy really stalking him?
Beth + Jeremy and Steve is also chock full of montages, which, at times, give portions of the movie a surreal quality. And those surreal moments help make Beth + Jeremy and Steve unpredictable. I can’t remember the last time I saw a “romantic” movie that felt unpredictable and uneasy. You could almost call that unpredictability and uneasiness a “good sinisterness.” Anything can happen to these people. Anything. Again, when is the last time a comedy was able to do that kind of thing?
The movie’s soundtrack is nothing short of phenomenal. Filled with what I assume are songs from indie bands, the soundtrack is something that you will want to listen to on its own. The music also helps establish the movie’s Portland, Oregon setting, which is what you want your movie’s soundtrack to do.
The three main actors are fantastic. Briana Ratterman does a great job as Beth. You can tell right from the beginning that Beth is unsatisfied with her life. She hates her life, her husband, and her job, or at least she thinks she does. She doesn’t know how to “fix” herself. Meeting Jeremy in the record store and connecting with him is something that happens by chance (she had no idea Jeremy was in the store when she walked in). Is this chance encounter the thing that will somehow improve her life? Will things start to look up now that she’s met this much younger man? Ratterman makes sure we know that Beth doesn’t really know what she’s doing and is making things up as she goes. There are moments where it seems like she’s holding out hope that her issues will settle down and “fix” themselves (her trip to the grocery store with Steve gives you the impression that maybe things aren’t as bad as they initially seemed). They won’t and they don’t, and Beth ends up pursuing a deeper relationship with Jeremy. That relationship will probably end badly, but how badly? Again, Ratterman is just great as Beth.
Lucas Friedman does a wonderful job as Jeremy, the 17-year old high school kid that finds himself in a relationship with a much older woman. Was it nice and cool flirting with the older woman in the record store that one time? Sure. It was nice to have the attention of someone who was interested in talking to you, even if it was just for a few minutes. Jeremy just broke up with his girlfriend, so in that moment in the record store he was vulnerable. But should he go beyond just talking to the older woman after she gives him her phone number? And if he does, what’s going to happen next? Just like Beth, Jeremy is making things up as he goes and has no idea what he’s doing. Jeremy just seems to be trying to “live in the moment.” And then Steve shows up and changes everything. Friedman knows how to play Jeremy’s befuddlement to everything that happens to him to the max, and you feel for him because you don’t want to see him hurt. He’s only 17, man. I’d love to know what happens to Jeremy after the events of the movie. How will all of this affect his future?
And then there’s Matthew Dibiasio as Steve. At first, Steve seems like a real jerk. There are times where it seems like Steve is being belligerent and hostile for no reason and that he has a perpetual attitude problem that reveals itself whenever Steve thinks things aren’t going his way. How the hell did he ever get along with Beth? How the hell did they get married? They don’t seem immediately compatible in any way. But then you see Steven and Beth together and their relationship isn’t that hard to believe in anymore. There’s an obvious spark between them. So why are they having the problems that they are? Is it possible that Steve isn’t the jerk you originally thought? And is the affair that he’s having a product of his own stupidity (he doesn’t know how to react to what’s happening in his life, so he starts up a relationship with someone else that will go badly simply because that’s what always happens?)? I absolutely love Dibiasio as Steve. Yes, he may be a jerk, but he’s funny and charismatic and he brings a dangerous energy to the movie. Dibiasio also makes you question your initial assumptions with Steve. Maybe he isn’t the jerk he seems to be. Maybe there’s something else going on with him that he can’t express.
Now, you might wonder if the whole “17 year old male having a relationship with a 35 year old woman” thing comes off as gross or wrong. I will say that it’s never gross or icky, but it definitely does feel wrong when Beth shows up at Jeremy’s high school swim meet. Up until that point, it was just something that feels kind of quirky, or off but not that wrong. But then, at the swim meet, it gets kind of creepy. It’s creepy because, right then and there, you see the age difference between the two. She’s a grown woman, and he’s still a kid. What the hell is wrong with her? This shouldn’t be happening. And yet it is. You probably won’t be outraged by what you’re seeing (it is just a movie, after all), but it is something you’re going to start thinking about. I know I did. I guess it helps that the movie is a comedy, that no one comes off as a stereotypical predator. You can accept what’s happening because it’s happening in a movie. It’s complicated.
I absolutely loved Beth + Jeremy and Steve. It’s funny and strange and weird and gigantically entertaining. It’s a movie that you should absolutely make an effort to see.
See Beth + Jeremy and Steve. See it, see it, see it. Beth + Jeremy and Steve is set to hit all major HD digital internet, satellite, and cable platforms and DVD starting May 30th, 2025,
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: None.
Explosions: None.
Nudity?: None.
Doobage: A phone conversation. Banana eating. Banana peel to the face. High school swim class. A walking and thinking montage. Record store hooey. Obvious flirting. Paper swapping. A hooking up a turntable montage. A dickhead older brother. A date that isn’t a dater. A “people dancing together” montage. A bald guy getting drunk and belligerent at a bar. A car conversation. Off screen sample writing. Another dancing montage. Making out. Off screen sex (presumably). An indoor batting cage. Batting practice. A guy hanging out at the mall alone. A married couple in bed together just sleeping. Grocery shopping. Cereal buying. A high school swim meet. A conversation about having kids. Dry cereal eating. An argument. Stalking. A “two people messing around” montage. Writing advice. Two people hanging out together in their underwear. A high school confrontation. A guy eating sunflower seeds while taking a bath for some reason. Multiple threats. An impromptu meeting. Cell phone hooey. Another car conversation. Another trip to the batting cages. A party. DJ hooey. Cigarette smoking. A blonde wig. A 1960s party. A bathroom confrontation. A glass of water. A “sad person” montage. A playground. Bird poop on a park bench. A series of uncomfortable conversations. A final high school swim meet. A bathroom breakdown. Uncertainty.
Kim Richards? None.
Gratuitous: A picture of Sean Connery as James Bond on the wall. Swimming practice. Oriental garden raking. Head-butting car horn in frustration. Portland, Oregon. The Future Shock Record Store. Vinyl cover perusing. Phantasm motion picture soundtrack on the wall. A physical media discussion. Someone writing stuff on a piece of paper towel. A framed Chicago flag on the wall. A guy hanging out at the mall alone. Dry cereal eating. “Good afternoon.” A Flash t-shirt. Cigarette smoking. A 1960s party.
Best lines: “Fucking yeah, I want to be your friend!” “Fucking shit head!” “Breathe. Relax. Breathe.” “Are you mad? No, I’m just tired.” Do you like older music?” “Can we just do pen and paper?” “There’s a Beth on the phone for you. She’d like you to eat her pussy.” “What flag is that? Chicago.” “I think I’m disappearing. I think I’m disappearing. Wake up.” “I need to cut some broccoli and celery, homes. Be right back.” “What about you?” “I don’t want this conversation to be happening now.” “Show a loft? Who the fuck is buying a loft right now?” “Steven? Can you grow up?” “Ooh. You’re from Portland.” “So, uh, you’re having sex with my wife?” You’re fucking that dude’s wife? No, you’re not.” “Mom, give me five minutes!” “What do you want? I think I want to meet your Mom.” “Don’t write it, Jeremy, it will get lost.” “Do you have a magic penis?” “Oh, my God, this is a fucked up night.” “I’m really happy that you’re not mad.” “Do you want me to sleep on the couch?” “Stop acting like idiots.” “What? Fucking swingers?” “If I was going to have a son, I’d want him to have qualities like yours.” “What the… what the fuck? Who are you, man?”
