First, don’t be put off by the title. Run Amok, premiering Monday in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, is not a Chevy Chase comedy from the ’80s. If this sells, that name is the first thing that should be changed, especially for a movie dealing with violence, death, trauma and especially grief in the aftermath of a high school shooting.
In this case it also is therapy for Meg (Alyssa Marvin), a current student at a school where a shooting took place a decade earlier and took the lives of three students as well as a beloved teacher who also happened to be Meg’s mother. Still dealing with the grief of that, the spunky, offbeat teenager comes up with an idea to create a musical surrounding the events of that darkest moment in her school’s history, and in the way she sees it, this student play will tell it all the way it was, no sugarcoating.
You can imagine the feedback she gets once the subject matter of this student show is revealed. Supporting it, however, is Mr. Shelby (Patrick Wilson) an empathetic teacher who believes it might be a good exercise for them to deal with an ongoing and sadly still ever-relevant reality of everyday life for today’s kids. Meg is a crackerjack personality with much enthusiasm for breaking the mold, and as auditions are held, that spirit spreads to other students who are eager to be in it.
Inevitably, others don’t share that joy, most notably Principal Linda (Margaret Cho), who is outraged and thought they were doing something around “Amazing Grace,” not this vivid reimagination of the events of that awful day with students strewn lifeless in the hallways. She demands it be stopped, gets into it with Shelby and thinks they are back on track to sing “Amazing Grace.” Not. So. Fast.
Give credit to debuting feature filmmaker NB Mager for a bold idea and a teen-driven movie that could spark the right kind of conversation. Just the idea of a musical by and starring kids re-creating a tragic shooting at the same school and doing it with songs, well, that is original. Watching it, I was thinking this isn’t all that far-fetched, although explaining it to the parents might take a little time. And that is also the case here in home scenes with Meg and her Aunt Val (Molly Ringwald), who remains emotionally closed off, and Uncle Dan (Yul Vasquez), with whom she lives. Scenes around the dinner table are awkward to say the least, but Meg has a big supporter in bestie Penny (Sophia Torres) and a burning desire to bring this show to life against all odds.
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What Mager is showing here is the difference between kids and adults, the openness and willingness to be bold and confront things head on with matter-of-fact honesty in a world that is being screwed up by their elders and those in charge. This is a generation looking for something more than “thoughts and prayers” offered more times than anyone can count following the multitude of these school shootings. This is a film with a different way of looking at it, even with dark comedy blended in.
Run Amok (arrrrgh, that title!) doesn’t always succeed in terms of tone where attempts at some of that comedy blend inartfully with reality, particularly in the case of school janitor Mr. Hunt (Bill Camp) and his attempts to shoot squirrels out of the trees. We laugh – and then we don’t – when it becomes clear this is a man still deeply disturbed by the shooting he lived through at the school , his mental well-being tragic, not funny. Also the one-note dismissal of this whole venture by Cho’s Principal is a bit of a cliche meant to create a convenient villain’ but it feels a bit false and seems too pat an excuse for dramatic conflict that just gets in the way. Ringwald’s presence reminds us of the kind of vibrant and honest John Hughes comedies that at one time defined teen movies. Mager takes a bit of a left turn from those, but I bet Hughes might approve.
In the end it all revolves around the unique Meg and her passionate quest, her own need for closure, and a novel way to find it. With Marvin, a Broadway actress in her first film plus a game cast of young talents supporting her, Mager finds the key to making this small, flawed, but still pertinent film work better than you might ever imagine. It is a long way from Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney saying ‘hey kids let’s put on a show’! Welcome to 2026.
Producers are Julie Christeas and Frank Hall Green.
Title: Run Amok
Festival: Sundance (U.S. Dramatic Competition)
Sales agent: CAA
Director-screenwriter: NB Mager
Cast: Alyssa Marvin, Margaret Cho, Sophia Torres, Elizabeth Marvel, Bill Camp, Yul Vasquez, Molly Ringwald, Patrick Wilson.
Running time: 1 hr 36 mins
English (US) ·