Be More Chill

Description
In Ned Vizzini's quirky 2005 young-adult novel, a misfit adolescent attempts to circumvent high school's merciless clique culture by swallowing a computer chip–imbedded pill that lodges in his brain and instructs him on how to be cool and get laid. Griffin's stage adaptation—while nimbly directed by Jonathan Berry, who keeps his youthful cast firing on all cylinders—feels like a patented John Hughes formula tricked out with hip-hop slang and a digital-age Faustian alter-ego plot twist. Despite its turgid second act and a story line telegraphed from start to finish, Chill comes off as above-average fare for urban teen audiences.—Craig Keller