Film

Something Like Summer

Name: Something Like Summer
Genre: Romance, Drama, Music
Released: 2017
Cast: Grant Davis, Davi Santos, Ben Baur, Ajiona Alexus, Jana Lee Hamblin

A coming-of-age romance following two closeted high school boys whose secret relationship fractures into something messier and more human over a decade. It's tender and frustrated, intimate and aching—a film that trusts its audience to sit with unresolved feelings and the ways first love can haunt you indefinitely.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like romances built on old resentment and slow, unspoken history, where the tension lives in what people don't say rather than in grand gestures.

Skip it if you want a brisk, plot-driven romance, since this one moves at a loose, meandering pace across years and asks you to sit with prickly, not always likeable, characters.

What it asks of you: Roughly two hours, unhurried, with room for quiet scenes and a tone that shifts between tender and bruising; it wants patience more than attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Call Me by Your Name2017

A sun-drenched romance between two men that luxuriates in desire, memory, and the bittersweet knowledge that some loves change us forever but don't last. Achingly beautiful.

But The pacing is slow and sensual; if you want plot momentum or conflict, you'll be frustrated. The age gap also makes some viewers uncomfortable.

The Half of It2020

A queer coming-of-age that's funny and intelligent, about a closeted teen navigating identity, class, and the complicated math of unrequited love. It earns its warmth.

But The stakes feel smaller than in heavy dramas, and the resolution is neat in a way that real life rarely is. Some find it too sweet.

Heartstopper2022

A tender Netflix series about two young men discovering each other and themselves. Joyful, supportive, genuinely funny—it feels like a love letter to queer possibility.

But It's relentlessly optimistic and low-conflict by design. If you're seeking the sting of Something Like Summer, this leans toward comfort instead.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Something Like Summer

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Weekend2011

Both films understand that the intensity of queer connection isn't always visible from outside—it lives in private conversations, in the knowledge that it might not survive beyond a specific moment in time.

An intimate British film about two men who meet on a Friday night and spend the weekend together before one leaves the country. It's gorgeously conversational—mostly just talking, drinking, fucking, and falling deeper. One of cinema's most honest depictions of new love.

But It's shot handheld and unglamorous; the lack of plot and stakes will bore anyone wanting conventional drama. At times it feels like eavesdropping on a stranger's relationship.

Beach Rats2017

A raw, unglamorous portrait of a closeted working-class teen in New York, torn between desire and belonging. It captures the suffocation of hiding convincingly.

But It's bleak and claustrophobic with no cathartic resolution. The protagonist makes choices that frustrate rather than inspire.

Love, Simon2018

A smart, witty coming-out story that balances humor with genuine emotion. The central mystery keeps you engaged while the romance blooms at a satisfying pace.

But The tone is breezier than Something Like Summer; if you want serious emotional weight, this might feel too much like a rom-com.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post2018

A queer girl's journey after being sent to conversion therapy. It's defiant and darkly funny, with real friendships at its core.

But It's a different experience than a male same-sex romance, and some of the trauma elements are heavy without resolution.

Handsome Devil2017

An Irish boarding school story about queerness, masculinity, and unlikely friendship. Subtle, witty, and surprisingly moving about belonging.

But It's quietly paced and sometimes feels like it's withholding emotion you're reaching for. The stakes aren't dramatic.

Plan B2021

Two teen girls on a road trip for Plan B pills, building a complicated friendship. It's funny, messy, and shows real adolescent energy and vulnerability.

But It's not a romance, and the humor is uneven. Some scenes feel broad where others land with precision.

Moonlight2016

Both track how queer identity forms in secrecy and isolation, and both ask whether the person you become is a betrayal or a survival of the person you were. Neither offers easy answers.

A three-act poem about a Black man's interior life across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, tracing how he becomes himself in a world that offers him no clear template. Visually stunning, emotionally devastating, utterly original in structure.

But It's abstract and impressionistic; you piece the story yourself rather than being told it. The sadness is profound and unrelenting. Some find it too oblique.

Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements2019

Like Something Like Summer, it's about young people learning who they are outside the world's expectations, and both use music as the language for what cannot be spoken aloud.

A documentary about a deaf pianist, told almost entirely without dialogue, using gesture, sound design, and Beethoven's music. It's formally radical and deeply moving—about what it means to hear differently, to belong differently, to create anyway.

But It's experimental and meditative; if you want a conventional documentary with exposition, this will feel frustratingly abstract. The slowness isn't for everyone.