While We’re Young

To repair her fractured social circle, 17-year-old student body president Grace Barbour engineers an illicit skip day, enlisting her bestie Isabel Cruz to “kidnap” their estranged friend Everett Adler from school to spend the day reenacting their favorite Philadelphia experiences. Meanwhile, Grace’s older brother James, suspecting she’s up to shenanigans, attempts to track her down. Complex relationship dynamics threaten to shatter the group’s rapport for good: Grace has a crush on Everett, who used to date Isa, who’s secretly seeing James. As the four traipse through Philly, they address old hurts and suppressed feelings and have heart-to-hearts over the city’s best cheese- steaks. In this ardent ode to the city of brotherly love, an homage to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Walther (The Summer of Broken Rules) playfully hits the film’s well-known beats and quotes, while giving it a contemporary rom-com spin that captures adolescent turmoil and apprehension regarding the future. Tongue-in-cheek, humorous, and self-aware, it’s a tale whose familiar framework still contains room for an emotionally rich romp. Grace, Everett, and James read as white; Isa cues as Latinx. Ages 12–up. Agent: Eva M. Scalzo, Speilburg Literary. (Mar.)