The Line (2024) is directed by Ethan Berger and stars Alex Wolff, Bo Mitchell, Austin Abrams, Halle Bailey, Lewis Pullman, Angus Cloud, Nicholas Basile, Graham Patrick Martin, Will Ropp, Drew Pipkin, Mason Roberts, John Malkovich, Cheri Oteri, and Scoot McNairy. The film follows Tom Backster (Wolff), a sophomore college student and rising member of the prestigious KNA fraternity. Ignoring his education completely or doing just enough to slip by, Tom spends his days partying with his fellow KNA brothers who include his wealthy, longtime best friend, Mitch Miller (Mitchell). When new pledges are recruited to join the frat, Mitch quickly develops an unhealthy hatred toward a shit-talking, but well-meaning freshman (Abrams) whom his brothers unanimously love. Soon after, the fraternity’s leader (Pullman) temporarily leaves Tom in charge while he goes away. When the boys are eventually forced to face the consequences of their consistently reckless behavior, Tom struggles to decide where his loyalties truly lie – his brothers, or what he knows is morally just.

Alex Wolff is well-cast but he also proves once again that he’s a much better actor than people commonly give him credit for. Although he lays on the Southern accent a little thick, he shows great emotional range. I totally believed him as this kind of frat bro who is actually kind of sensitive deep down. The supporting cast is mostly great as well. Although sparingly used, Lewis Pullman’s uncommonly magnetic aura is a joy watch. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, you’ll see him leading some big-time films in the future.

 Although Austin Abram’s freshman frat boy initially seems like an asshole (which he kinda is), he eventually becomes one of the film’s most likable characters and the only one who speaks for the audience. This is a well-written, but admittedly uncomfortable watch where the viewer constantly wants the characters to make better decisions, but they never do. Abrams’ character is the only one who points out all the fratboy bullshit which by default makes him one of the more satisfying people to watch.

The only performance that doesn’t entirely work for me is Bo Mitchell as Mitch. For 80% of the runtime, his performance as an overly sensitive frat boy works. Unfortunately, the climax requires his character to go to some serious/dark places and he simply just isn’t up to the task. These are some of the film’s most key scenes, so it’s a relief to note that although his performance is weak, it’s cushioned by the uncommonly strong script. 

Exploring these particular themes within a college setting is nothing new and the structure harkens back to darker-edged coming-of-age dramas such as School Ties (1994) and Mean Creek (2004) or even a more cheesy, genre-driven fare such as The Skulls (2000). I’ve already seen what this film has to offer, but that doesn’t change the fact that the tightly written script makes it all feel fresh. 

As mentioned previously, it’s an undeniably skin-crawling watch that shows the toxic sides of fraternity/brotherhood. The script feels extremely sharp in how it portrays men at their most masculine as both simultaneously aggressive and passive-aggressive. In other words, they’re just aggressive in general. Their conversations are often juvenile and unforgiving, but they again feel authentic.

 The frat boys become endlessly frustrated when the freshmen they savagely dehumanize begin to push back, but not because they’re dying to humiliate people, they just want their self-appointed authority to be respected without question. This is such a fantastic and specific example of how toxic masculinity manifests in the real world. It’s common for a majority of men to live with an almost instinctual desire to be respected, especially by other men. The thing is, a lot of men will expect respect even when they haven’t earned it. There are also great observations relating to males’ often hypocritical attitude toward sensitivity. They’ll bury even their closest friends for showing even the smallest amount of sensitivity but then do something more sensitive 5 minutes later. For God’s sake, our main character can’t even date a girl who in most people’s opinion is extremely intelligent and attractive without being savagely bullied by his peers for dating a “nerdy, black lesbian.” 

Similar to the previously mentioned Mean Creek, this movie gets something shockingly right about the true nature of violence. Yes, sometimes it’s premeditated and cold-blooded, but more often than not, it’s an emotional, heat-of-the-moment decision that requires a lot of smaller unfortunate events to stack on top of one another. In other words, evil actions are usually based in saving one’s skin as opposed to having a true desire to hurt people. What makes something evil, the intention or the outcome?

The film ends in a such way that will inevitably offend certain viewers, but I found it to be thematically resonant. In a film with so much overwhelming masculine energy, it felt perfect to end things by hammering home the importance of strong female figures in a man’s life. Feminine and masculine energy balance one another out. When you create an environment where there’s only one, things are sure to get petty.

Overall, this is an uncommonly well-written rookie effort from Ethan Berger that’s only held back by its somewhat unoriginal premise as well as some spotty performances and a few awkward tonal shifts. It’s not an easy watch but is a compelling one. It’s thematically dense, the performances are good, and it embellishes the college experience in ways that make their various escapades a blast to watch without breaking the film’s otherwise grounded nature. I’m 50/50 on whether I’d recommend it to people seeing as it’s not particularly uplifting or fun. That being said, it’s surprisingly well-made and by the end, I found myself reasonably invested. B