My son recommended this flick with “silly premise, full commitment, a total blast.” I ran to the theater and agree wholeheartedly with his second two comments. As for the premise, I read nothing about the film before I saw it and even picked a generic photo for this review so as NOT to give anything away. I loved the premise, which is simple and requires little exposition.

Co-writer/director David Robert Mitchell blew me away with 2014’s It Follows. Since that debut, he wrote and directed Under the Silver Lake, a picture that got past me and is now on my list. No matter the merits of Silver Lake, 12 years after It Follows, Mitchell is back with this smart, funny, gripping roller-coaster ride.

It is 1982. Ewan McGregor and Ann Hathaway live with their two teenage children (Maisy Stella and Christian Convery) at, you guessed it, the end of Oak Street, a quiet Michigan suburb where all the neighbors know each other and one even compliments McGregor on his wonderful family. But all is not well. The entire unit is cracking under the weight of marital discord and papered-over disintegration. A cosmic event intercedes, one that creates palpable terror, requiring the family to get it together.

Non-specific, I know, but my ignorance greatly enhanced my enjoyment, so I urge you to replicate my approach. Just go, or, wait for streaming and watch it blind. The movie has the feel of a Saturday morning serial, and it is not coincidence it was produced by JJ Abrams. It has a lot in common with his Super 8, which is set in 1979 and follows a group of teenagers (some from breaking families) who witness a mysterious train derailment that connotes a deeper danger.

Everyone is excellent, and in particular, Hathaway really commits and connects, an accolade she is due after my criticism of her performance in The Odyssey. Stella, who I massacred in My Old Ass, is poised and assured, pitch perfect to the material.

The quarter point deduction is really niggling, but it bars mentioning. Convery is probably a couple of years too old for the role, as some of his decisions in the direst of moments scream pre-teen.

Otherwise, superb.