Never Change! (2026) – Review and Summary | Tribeca Film Festival

Never Change! is a reminder that high school wasn’t your peak, and nostalgia should be rooted in what life was like before you were drowning in inhibitions.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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“Never Change!” Film Details

  • Director(s): Marty Schousboe
  • Writer(s): John Reynolds
  • Based On Work By: John Reynolds, Marty Schousboe
  • Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 43 Minutes
  • Public Release Date (Film Festival – Tribeca Film Festival [More Coverage Of The 2026 Film Festival]): June 9, 2026
  • Public Release Date (Hulu): June 17, 2026
  • Genre(s): Comedy
  • Content Rating: Not Rated
  • Primary Language: English
  • Images © of / Courtesy Of Disney

Movie Summary

In 2008, a freak tornado in North Meadows destroyed the high school and led to its then graduating class to be free from its shackles early. However, more than a decade later, everyone is forced to make up the two weeks lost in order to have their diploma certified. Getting a GED isn’t optional, or remote learning – it has to be in person, and this means everyone faces who they were, who they thought they’d be, and the people who they left behind.

Cast and Characters

Amelia (Jo Firestone)

  • Character Summary: The class valedictorian whose life is anything but what she, or anyone, would expect from someone at the top of her class.

Tedi (Carmen Christopher)

  • Character Summary: The owner of the town bar and perhaps the only person in his graduating class with a spouse and family.

Curtis (Gary Richardson)

  • Character Summary: The thespian of the graduating class who now works in marketing.

Sunny (John Reynolds)

  • Character Summary: The star jock who may have peaked in high school.

Katie (Sofia Black-D’Elia)

  • Character Summary: The girl everyone had a crush on, who is now a newscaster.

Victoria (Jackie Cruz)

  • Character Summary: Tedi’s wife, who not only helps him manage all their kids but is the main one who keeps him spiraling as he struggles with going back to school.

Matt (Matt Barats)

  • Character Summary: A really odd man who had a huge crush on Katie but seemingly hasn’t had many conversations with her.

Claire (Roberta Colindrez)

  • Character Summary: Sarcastic, but an excellent cook, Claire is a bit of a wild card since you never know when she might be nice to you or curse you out.

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

It’s (Surprisingly) Funny [82/100]

Because the premise has some holes in it, you know the film is going to rest on being funny, and in the beginning, it was hard to say if it could succeed. Everyone’s reaction to going back to high school, how some of the teachers and administrators acted, let’s say, Never Change! didn’t have a strong start.

However, then Matt Barats started to land the necessary jokes, giving us an almost Dumb and Dumber vibe, Curtis and his weird thing with aliens, and eventually, you come to realize this is a wood-burning oven type of comedy. It needs you to get to know these people and experience them to be funny. This isn’t an assembly line comedy where it is one joke, one comical scenario after another.

A Reminder To Appreciate What You’ve Gained, Rather Than What You Could Have Had [83/100]

Generally speaking, almost every character presents themselves as someone with hopes and dreams, who has settled for reality. Amelia was class valedictorian and is now in a dead-end job and marriage. Curtis? He was a theater kid who now works in marketing. One after another, you see people who present their lives as miserable because they didn’t live up to their expectations or what they think others believed they would be.

But, as the movie pushes on, it does present the need to ask, “What would life have been like if you got what you wanted early on?” If you peaked in your twenties, got all your dreams to come true, what would there be to do after?

As much as Never Change! is a comedy, it isn’t lost that the audience, between jokes, may find themselves reflecting on where life has taken them since high school and if they are happy. Never mind, if they talked about their life, would they be the joke or in on the joke?

On The Fence

Wishing More Was Done With Some Characters [77/100]

With Never Change! being an ensemble comedy, unfortunately there are winners and losers regarding who gets focused on. Of those who don’t get tapped for their full potential, we got Claire, whose attitude and odd relationship with many characters make you want more. Never mind her sarcasm.

Matt? Yes, you could submit if he was in more then it would be overkill and it could take away from what makes him such a great character. But I still feel like, with him often being the most consistent funny character, he could have done more, and his shtick would not have been overexploited.

But perhaps the one I really wish got to have something deeper was Tedi and his wife, Victoria. Yes, Tedi isn’t happy with his life, and as everyone returns, he seems to struggle more than anyone with what he has to show for all the years that passed. Yet, he seems to be the most stable and capable of being happy.

Again, this is a comedy, but there is this sense they could have gone deeper with Tedi, maintain the hijinks, but not shrink the fact he has a business, a family, a good wife, and while his kids are mischievous, they understand, when it comes down to it, they are part of a family.

Little To No Bridging The Gap [75/100]

The characters in Never Change! have strong personalities, and if you can’t identify them by name, usually a quirk has them stand out. Because of this, you easily get invested, but there comes a problem – you’re going to want to know more about who they were in high school, and their life up until now. Almost universally, that isn’t really done.

At best, there is a card given telling you the highlights, in text, for a select few characters. But sadly, a line is eventually drawn between those who are tier 1 of the ensemble and those who, even if they are the most memorable, are tier 2. Leading to information sometimes being given in passing, but rarely do you feel like you can fully understand how someone got from where they were in high school to where they are now.

Overall

Our Rating (79/100): Mixed (Divisive)

Never Change! never finds the perfect balance between the heart and the laughter its scenario can offer, but as it teeter-totters back and forth, it does hit some high notes. Be it Tedi and his family, regarding the heart, Matt in terms of the laughter, and many others across a spectrum, which makes Never Change! a must for those who have Hulu to watch on June 17th.

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.