Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi/Musical
Director: Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone
Writer: Chad Taylor
Based on the 2015 musical
Cast: Lucas Hedges, Pete Davidson, Hailee Steinfeld, Camila Cabello, Becky G, Shameik Moore, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Jason Sudeikis, Kyle Mooney, Keanu Reeves (voice)
Plot: Jeremy (Lucas Hedges) and his best friend Michael (Pete Davidson) are two outsiders at school, but share their own nerdy bond that is one-of-a-kind. They always eat lunch together alone and discuss music and games and Jeremy’s crush on Christine Canigula (Hailee Steinfeld) [“More Than Survive”]. Jeremy meets with the Theater teacher Mr. Jenkins (Kyle Mooney) to ask for a part in the upcoming play, to be closer to Christine.
After lunch, they’re chased through the halls by popular kid/bully Rich Goranski (Antoine-Olivier Pilon). Although Michael gets away by hiding in a trash can, Rich corners Jeremy but takes pity on him. Sensing Jeremy’s fear, Rich recommends he become cool like Rich did – using The SQUIP (Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor) [“The SQUIP Song”]. The SQUIP is a pill that implants a supercomputer in the user’s brain and guides them on how to be cool. You have to wash it down with Mountain Dew. Jeremy tells Michael about this and sees it as his chance to finally impress Christine. Michael is skeptical and worries about how it will change him, but Jeremy reassures him that everything will still be pretty normal.
Jeremy meets with the dealer and chooses the Keanu Reeves version of the pill to take. After taking it, The SQUIP ridicules Jeremy’s current personality and style and promises to fix it [“Be More Chill Pt. 1”]. Jeremy goes through the mall and buys a new wardrobe with The SQUIP’s help. When he runs into two popular girls, Brooke (Camila Cabello) and Chloe (Becky G), and The SQUIP makes him flirt with them. They offer him a ride home from the mall but, against the SQUIP’s advice, he is too nervous and rejects their offer [“Do You Wanna Ride?”]. The SQUIP scolds him for rejecting his advice upon which Jeremy becomes confident and says he won’t do it ever again [“Be More Chill Pt. 2”].
At play rehearsal, Jeremy is flirtatious with Christine and sings to him about a crush she has [“A Guy That I’d Kinda Be Into”]. Although Jeremy thinks she’s singing about him, it revealed at the end to be about Shawn (Shemeik Moore) – a popular jock. Disappointed but determined, Jeremy storms out and finds Brooke and Chloe hanging out in the school courtyard. He passionately kisses Brooke, who SQUIP says harbors a crush on him, and follows it up by asking her on a date. After scheduling the date, he realizes he and Michael were supposed to see a movie at the same time. He is mad at SQUIP for having knowledge of this conflict and still recommending that time but SQUIP is adamant that he must drop Michael – a leftover from Jeremy’s previous uncool life. After the date, Jeremy and Brooke go skinning dippy and he loses his virginity – his performance is praised afterward (due to SQUIP’s assistance).
Shawn hosts a Halloween party the following weekend and Jeremy brings Brooke as his date. As everyone gets pretty drunk, Chloe starts hitting on Jeremy to make Brooke jealous. Jeremy’s alcoholic intake causes SQUIP to speak Japanese and so with its advice, before Jeremy knows it he is alone in a room with Chloe. Shawn walks in on them kissing, and is angry at his ex-girlfriend being with another guy at his party. The two of them reconcile and kick Jeremy out.
Jeremy first runs into Rich, who desperate to find Mountain Dew: Halo 3 Gamer Fuel. Jeremy has no clue what he’s talking about and shrugs him off. He then runs into Michael, who wonders why their movie plans were abandoned. He tells him that he has been doing research into SQUIP and about the discoveries he’s made about the mental health effects it has had on its users. Jeremy accuses Michael of being jealous of his popularity and calls him a bitter loser. Michael locks himself in the bathroom and laments the changes SQUIP has made to his friend [“Michael in the Bathroom”]. Jeremy has a heart-to-heart with Christine after the Shawn/Chloe reunion left them both alone. Before he can admit his feelings, his SQUIP has returned to English now that he has sobered up and demand that he leave the party now.
The next day, word spreads that there was a major fire at Shawn’s house [“The Smartphone Hour”]. Rumor is that Rich set it and Shawn went back into rescue him, putting them both in the hospital. Back home, Jeremy’s dad (Jason Sudeikis) – always in his underwear – worries to his son about his new attitude. Jeremy lashes out at his dad and tells him he is feeling better than he ever has in his life. He expresses his anger at his dad over his unable to move on from the divorce and that he won’t even put pants on. After this, Jeremy’s dad becomes determined and tracks down Michael so they can work together to get Jeremy back to normal [“The Pants Song”].
Before the big school play, Jeremy and Christine practice their lines together. Afterwards, Jeremy realizes his SQUIP has tricked him into spiking Christine’s Mt. Dew with a SQUIP of her own – to totally ensure they will get together. This makes him feel terrible about himself within him causes him to fight against SQUIP and he starts to race to find a way to turn it off before it kicks in for Christine. Jeremy has to convince Christine to stay backstage and miss their cue – disrupting the play. He explains that he took the SQUIP to finally impress her. She tells him she doesn’t need a pill to figure out a life for her and she would’ve been much more likely to date Jeremy if he was just himself. He tells her about spiking the drink and they simultaneously freak out.
As an instrumental version of “Michael in the Bathroom” plays, Michael triumphantly comes to the rescue with a bottle of Mountain Dew: Halo 3 Gamer Fuel. He explains that his research found that the makers of SQUIP intentionally made this 2006 Mt. Dew flavor the antidote because it was a limited time offer and thus nearly impossible to find. Luckily, Michael is just odd enough to collect that stuff and Jeremy and Christine drink the 10-year-old Mt. Dew. Jeremy apologizes for the whole ordeal, explaining that the SQUIP caused him to abandon Michael and drug Christine’s drink, but Christine doesn’t care in the moment – she takes Jeremy’s hand and pulls him onstage to do their part (including an in-character kiss).
After the play, Jeremy thanks Michael and dad (now wearing pants again) and tells them that he feel cool as he is. He’ll always have voices in his head but he needs to make sure his own is the one he stays truest to [“Voices in My Head”]. He pleads with Christine to give him a fresh start and get a chance to meet the real Jeremy – which he accepts.
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