Tyler Ross stars as Jolie Jolson in "American Milkshake" (Phase 4 Films).

The movie, written and directed by David Andalman and Mariko Munro, is set in the 1990s and charts the struggles of academically-gifted Jolie. Despite his intellectual capabilities, he aims to belong to the uppermost echelon of the high school hierarchy: the varsity basketball team. To Jolie, to be cool is to be black, so every decision he makes is calibrated to ensure that he strays as far away from being a “bama” (“loser,” in the lexicon of the 90s) in order to come closer to being a “thug” (or black). 

"American Milkshake" traverses the tried and tested territory of the testosterone-fueled, coming-of-age genre, but is significantly different from the pack because it attempts to view high school power dynamics through the prism of race. Jolie’s perception of his black classmates is rife with stereotypes that are brazenly racist, but the dark irony of the film is that Jolie yearns to belong to a group he harbors a prejudiced perspective of.

Tyler Ross deftly portrays Jolie as a geeky and awkward teenager. Even as he clumsily and often cruelly navigates his journey on the path to coolness, we still find his character deserving of empathy.

The film is populated with wonderful supporting characters, like Jolie's pregnant black girlfriend Henrietta (Shareeka Epps), Jolie’s tech-obsessed best friend Haroon (the adorkable Eshan Bay), and Jolie’s affable basketball teammate Arius (Nuri Hazzard). 

A persistant flaw in "American Milkshake" is that it fails to tie two overriding aspects of its story together. The film can be seen as more of a bildungsroman narrative interspersed with reflections on race-class relations, rather than a profound and cohesive film that presents a satirical look at what it means to be popular in high school and the racism that underpins this desire.

However, the film does illumine the adolescent foible of self-worship and self-aggrandizement with a mix of derision and tenderness - and this understanding of the teenage disposition is its greatest strength. Jolie views his life as a grand narrative, and fails to addresss the terse and complex relationships he's nurturing as a result of his new-found popularity.

"American Milkshake"'s offhandish tone might be grating to some, but the film ultimately remains a very entertaining and engaging look at just how wrong we can be about the world revolving around us.

Watch the trailer for "American Milkshake" below.

Reach staff reporter Aliza Noor Khan here.