Another very new movie, premiering in 2017, Speech and Debate is an excellent high school story about resisting censorship and fighting for what you believe. The movie follows three students each with separate goals who come together to achieve them. One is gay and wants to start a GSA (Genders and Sexualities Alliance) Club but is told that he isn't allowed, one is a theater nerd frustrated at the adjustments made to the script of their school play to be more "appropriate", and lastly one is an aspiring journalist prevented from publishing anything slightly controversial in the school paper.
The three then decide to start a speech and debate club as a way to channel their interests and fight against the school board. Hilarity ensues with the film doing a great job at incorporating the true awkwardness and embarrassment that define the teenage years. With hilarious and fabulous cameos from the broadway legends Darren Criss and Lin-Manuel Miranda, what's not to love? I especially enjoy that the lgbtq element is not the only focus of the film and that the conflict the gay character has is not as one dimensional as "bullied at school". Instead, the film does a great job depicting more institutionalized and subtle homophobia that is becoming an increasingly common issue in "liberal" areas.
Trigger Warnings: I can't think of anything offensive however there is one scene with fake blood.
