Film Review: THE COMIC SHOP (2025): Jesse Metcalfe Stars in an Entertaining, Every-Day Tale with a Lot of Positive Energy
The Comic Shop Review
The Comic Shop (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Jonathan L. Bowen, written by Scott Reed and Jonathan L. Bowen and starring Jesse Metcalfe, Tristin Mays, Micah Giovanni, Anthony Palermo, Leesa Neidel, Trevor Einhorn, Dylan Mooney, Eric Roberts, Chris Cleveland, Murray SawChuck, Eduard Osipov, Scott Reed, David Lautman, Royce Adkins, Mike Dusi, Rajiv Shah, Kerwin Thompson and Michael J. DelMauro.
Jonathan L. Bowen’s film, The Comic Shop, is just the type of movie the country needs right now. It’s an inspirational story of a comic book shop owner named Mike (Jesse Metcalfe) who must restructure his life after realizing his business is in a state of financial difficulty. Anyone who has worked in a comic book store or a video store will easily relate to this charming tale that features likable characters and an intriguing story line. It doesn’t reach too far, but the topics it chooses to explore are both interesting and compelling enough to make for an entertaining little movie that holds the viewer’s interest from beginning to end.
Metcalfe plays Mike as a middle-aged guy who has been working with an attractive and pleasant woman named Alex (Tristin Mays) in the comic shop for quite some time. After doing the numbers, Mike has to let Alex go even though he genuinely cares for her. When a competing comic book store opens in the neighborhood, Alex gets hired there by its owner, a spoiled rich kid named Chad (Trevor Einhorn). Micah Giovanni co-stars as Brandon, a college-bound student who is a customer at Mike’s shop and develops a bond with Mike who teaches him the way to rebound a struggling business as he learns to do so himself.
The Comic Shop could have been cliched, but in Bowen’s hands, it’s a really enjoyable picture to watch. Metcalfe and Mays create a relationship that is easy to predict. It starts out as friendship that could turn into a romantic situation, and eventually does, but the movie never gets overly involved with the love story. Instead, Bowen focuses on the ways Mike tries to save his business by selling comics at Comic Con and getting a famous person or two into his store to sell comics. Brandon’s dad (Anthony Palermo) wants Brandon to do something more financially lucrative than become an artist, but as the picture develops, the father learns to accept his son’s choice and support him in it. Giovanni and Palermo as Brandon and his dad are solid in terms of the way they create their characters and both performers seem natural, making the relationship between them all the more plausible.
Eric Roberts briefly appears as a landlord looking to raise the rent of Mike’s comic book store, but, soon, Mike will have bigger problems than that thanks to Chad who wants his store to be the only game in town and will do anything to make that happen. This movie entertainingly plays out with a series of believable scenarios that demonstrate how hard work and the right connections could just save Mike from the depths of desperation.
While I could have done without Mike’s obsessive drinking problem in the picture, this film is pretty tightly put together and the results are immensely enjoyable. Metcalfe is perfectly cast in the role of Mike, adding charm, depth and emotions to his character. Mays could be the film’s most valuable player, though, with her tremendous ability to light up the screen and she presents herself like Jodie Foster in terms of her elegance and sophistication. Dylan Mooney as an old friend of Mike’s is also plausible and this character helps set the subplot of the movie into motion with results that the audience will enjoy.
The Comic Shop tells its story straightforwardly and honestly. Some things that happen could be considered too far-fetched, but the movie doesn’t go too far in presenting exaggerated details. Instead, this film teaches us to hold on to our dreams and, of course, do what needs to be done to pay the bills in the interim. As someone who worked for a video store for many years, the vibe the film gives off is definitely a positive reflection on the old school way people would shop for and discover items of interest. This movie probably won’t change the ever-changing way of the real world, but it is certainly welcome at a time when hope is needed that hard-work and perseverance will pay off even under the most uncertain of circumstances. This is a good film that is worth seeking out.
Rating: 7/10
Leave your thoughts on this The Comic Shop review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Feedly, Twitter, Faceboo
Related Articles
