HeroMode review: A high school coding wunderkind must save his family’s gaming business by creating a hit title in A.J. Tesler’s jovial teen comedy
No one says “teamwork makes the dream work” in “Hero Mode,” but that maxim’s corny sentiment nonetheless aptly applies to’s video game-themed teen comedy, which follows a formula that dates back to at least the era of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. A lively saga about a young coding wizard who’s charged with saving his family’s gaming business, this celebration of old- and new-school creativity doesn’t break novel ground in any respect.
After getting himself suspended from school for hacking the college board’s database — a crime that’s hardly condemnable, since he did it to selflessly nab the student body new computers — Troy gets a shot at working for multiple sclerosis-stricken mom Kate’s Playfield Games, a company she founded with her late husband .
Despite having already sabotaged their shot at nabbing one investor, as well as getting booted out of school, Troy is handed the keys to the Playfield Games kingdom by Kate, thus sowing discord between him and the rest of the staff, which includes technical lead Laura , CFO Lyndon and story editor Marie . Luckily for the boy genius, the film contrives to provide him with aid in the form of livestreaming-crazy best friend Nick and new-girl-in-town — and aspiring singer — Paige .
“Hero Mode” is populated by cool, talented teens and mortifying adults with an embarrassing habit of trying to be hip, such that Kate wears a Nirvana t-shirt and quotes MC Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit,” and Laura decries Troy’s mistakes as “very, very not lit, fam!” Those jokes will likely make anyone over the age of 10 groan, but on the plus side, Astin, Rajskub and Sorvino’s cheerfulness keeps the proceedings lighthearted and amiable.
Tesler and cinematographer Jonathan Hall douse their action in vibrant colors while zooming into and out of digital screens, and they do their best to make coding dynamic via sequences in which their camera rotates around a computer-bound Troy surrounded by virtual landscapes and figures.
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