Welcome back for another edition of A Second Look with Jeff Stockton! In this segment I will take a "second look" at a past LRF release with a fresh set of eyes.
When Drugstore Perfume first came out back in Season 15, I found it sloppy, unfocused, and painfully careless with its details. The film follows Peter (Alex Wolff), a college student still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, who drifts into an affair with his much older former English teacher Samantha (Aubrey Plaza), despite her being engaged (or maybe married - the script can’t seem to decide) to Sam (Jason Ritter). Their secret relationship unfolds in diners, libraries, and bookstores, always shadowed by Samantha’s unhappy domestic life. On paper it could have been a poignant coming-of-age romance, but in execution it felt muddled. The title itself had no connection to the story, the character names (Sam and Samantha) were not just confusing but outright lazy, and details like a bizarre McDonald’s detour shattered any sense of realism. The soundtrack leaned on Alex Conn’s usual rotation of the same few bands, which only heightened how little texture the film brought to its world.
Revisiting it now, my impression hasn’t changed. The film still comes across as an inert exercise in mood without plot, arc, or character development. Aubrey Plaza’s talent remains wasted in a thankless role, and the rest of the cast are stuck with unlikable characters who never grow or earn our sympathy. The story doesn’t build to anything meaningful, and the misplaced details - from the product placement to the baffling relationship dynamics - only underline how little it seems to understand its own characters. Even through a more forgiving lens decades later, there’s nothing to rescue here. Drugstore Perfume is a tonal muddle, a narrative dead end, and proof that not everything with a strong cast deserves reevaluation.
Original Grade: D
New Grade: D
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