'Brian' Review: This Stellar Coming-of-Age Story Is One o...

What’s Happening

Real talk: Brian, starring Ben Wang, is the best film from this year’s SXSW Festival, and one of the funniest comedies of 2026 so far.

‘Brian’ Review: This Stellar Coming-of-Age Story Is One of the Funniest Movies of 2026 So Far Ben Wang in Brian Image via SXSW By Ross Bonaime Published Mar 20, 2026, 2:28 PM EDT Ross Bonaime is the Senior Film Editor at Collider. He is a Virginia-based critic, writer, and editor who has written about all forms of entertainment for Paste Magazine, Brightest Young Things, Flickchart, The Free Lance-Star, and more. (yes, really)

Ross graduated from George Mason University with a focus in communications and journalism and a minor in film and video studies.

The Details

Ross is a Tomatometer-approved critic, a member of the Washington DC Area Film haters Association, and a member of the haters Choice Association. He has loved movies ever since he saw Cinderella in the theater as a kid, he can quote 10 Things I Hate About You and Wet Hot American Summer from memory, and is fascinated Georges Méliès and Charlie Chaplin .

Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap While there have been many high school comedies, the best are the ones that transport you back to that time with honesty and humor. A film like Greta Gerwig ’s Lady Bird had such a specificity and realism to the plight of its title character, Bo Burnham ’s Eighth Grade latched onto the awkwardness and deep loneliness that can come from that period, and Kelly Fremon Craig ’s The Edge of Seventeen showed just how confusing being a teenager can be.

Why This Matters

These types of high school films not only make you cringe with their truth and clarity about this point in one’s life that most people would choose to forget, but they also have a sense of warmth to them, as though we’re viewing these events from the other side — both aware of how uncomfortable those years were, but with the knowledge that things do get better.

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