The title, All is Fine in ’89, is one of many ways the film wrong-foots audiences right away. For those familiar with John Hughes’ classic films, the 1980s were presented cinematically as a romanticized high school experience. The high school in All is Fine is unveiled similarly: the camera spins and pans to different characters as it moves down a hallway in a single long take. The derivative, yet nostalgic synth score swoons as the jock takes a leap and runs his hand against the American flag hung from the ceiling. This early-on sensationalization of the American high school will prove to be the only time our characters experience real joy, as nobody is truly all that “fine” in All is Fine in ’89.
The film begins with someone facing away from the camera, flipping through different television channels. A tongue-in-cheek ad for a weight-loss medication called “AYDs” appears, alluding to the smoothing over of the AIDS epidemic and to ’80s culture in general. The infamous fall of the Berlin Wall acts as a backdrop as students and teachers look to celebrate high school graduation at an end-of-year party. A news segment on television tells audiences that, for most, the celebration will end with many of the teens losing their lives. The promise of a massacre suggests the film may be paying homage to ’80s horror or slasher films, with each introduced character set to meet their grisly doom one by one, as is customary in the genre. But it’s a misdirect: All is Fine in ’89 is actually a coming-of-age tale, though with a dark side.
The characters seem to be unashamed walking clichés familiar to audiences through and through from similar films of the time. Everyone is accounted for here: the jock, the virgin, the bully, the Dungeons & Dragons nerds, and the inappropriately horny-for-teacher teens. Scenes showing each character’s arcs are shuffled through, hopping quickly from one subplot to another–making it hard to connect or invest emotionally. The pacing feels implicitly like a YA series like Riverdale, especially in how it juggles its six central characters. Many interactions overstay their welcome until it seems like every Degrassi -like ’80s issue is properly covered: closeted sexuality, suicide, pregnancy, and abuse. It isn’t until its third act that All is Fine begins to deviate and transform into something new. Unfortunately, the intriguing new threads lead to a less-than-satisfying conclusion.
Setting films in the ’80s has long been a solid creative move for filmmakers, even for debut directors like Matthew Lupis. Unfortunately, films like All is Fine often capitalize on that nostalgia without ever truly confronting or digging into the era. I n 2026, it feels that if you’re going to return to the ’80s, you need to do more than a mere surface inspection. We are far-enough removed from the decade for genuine dialogue about the differences between then and now. In that vein, All is Fine feels wanting, but Lupis does do well to dedicate flash-forwards to the ’90s and to the broken promises of true freedom provided to the characters by the end of the Cold War. The film also showcases an underlying attitude that permeated the country at the time, that although the United States is often victorious in many “wars for peace” overseas, problems at home remain constant and unaddressed.
The cast, including Lupis’s brother Adam, consists mostly of first-timers, and they are compelling, capturing their characters in an engaging way. All is Fine in ’89 does do an excellent job, too, of capturing the era’s aesthetics, with impressive, detailed costuming and production design. The lighting also allows those small pieces to stand out, whether it is the contrast of the red varsity uniforms in the sunlight or the grim ambience of the television’s blue glow within interiors. The visuals are particularly impressive, given that the film is a fairly low-budget production.
Although All is Fine has a unique central idea and is unashamed to go to some dark places, most of the narrative is spent developing clichéd characters who progress in predictable ways. Lupis and his team clearly intended to spin the ’80s coming-of-age formula on its head and somewhat succeeded, but the film largely feels more like an imitation, leaving it actively unengaging.
