"Brian" is SXSW's New Favorite Coming-of-Rage

This year's highly-anticipated South by Southwest festival kicked off this week in Austin, Texas. For the next week, dozens of high-profile films will be showcased to the public for the first time. This year has one of the most stacked lineups in recent memory, among these films premiering is Brian by Will Ropp; a star-studded coming-of-age comedy that feels like this generation's Rushmore.

Brian is a film that follows its titular character who decides to run for class president in an attempt to get closer to his English teacher. Played by Ben Wang, Brian is described as an "acerbic" young man, prone to frequent episodes of intense anger or panic. He has an incredibly hard time controlling his emotions or maintaining anything that resembles a social life. In addition to Ben Wang, the film also employs the talents of Randall Park, William H. Macy, Natalie Morales, and Joshua Colley. Brian is the directorial debut of actor, Will Ropp, most well known for starring as Wyatt on Hulu's Love, Victor.

It's clear that Ben Wang put a lot of effort into his performance. He understands the complexities of his character and has great chemistry with his on-screen dad, Randall Park. Brian is an easy character to mess up due to his sheer intensity but Wang's performance never feels cartoonish. After having a particularly busy 2025, Wang is cementing himself as one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood and his latest performance makes me excited to see where his career goes.

Brian is a film that feels like an amalgamation of past projects, even some surprisingly recent ones. In terms of the lead character, it is a more proficient version of Dear Evan Hansen, taking itself much less seriously. The plot is sure to remind any indie cinema veteran of Wes Anderson's Rushmore from 1998. If Max Fischer's precociousness and ego was replaced with crippling awkwardness, you'd get Brian. The sound design is one of the film's strongest and most unique aspects. It feels extremely reminiscent of Andrew DeYoung's Friendship and Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme. Borrowing a lot from other films, Brian might not be the most original film at SXSW 2026, but it is still a worthwhile watch. I mean, who doesn't love Rushmore?

While this film comes from director, Will Ropp's desire to tell a story about mental health, Brian is at its weakest when tackling these serious moments and strongest when leaning into the absurd. After all, this is Ropp's first attempt at a feature film so slip-ups are to be expected, but for future projects I would encourage him to not take everything so seriously. Then again, if some scatterbrained teenagers see themselves in this film and feel less alone, who cares what the rest of us think?

There is some seriously adept comedy in this film that is going to kill in front of an audience. This is in no doubt due to its producer, Saturday Night Live alum, Seth Meyers. While its a laugh riot, Brian struggles a little with the balance between funny and heartfelt moments. Regardless, this is still a solid movie, especially for a directorial debut, and it's absolutely exploding with heart.

Brian is a film that is going to mean different things to different people. Some are going to see it as a poignant piece on mental health while others will go for the raunchy comedy. Either way, it's a good time at the movies!