“Sometimes when I get anxious, I nervous-hallucinate,” admits Abby (Sam Morelos) at the beginning of the new Hulu original “Summer of 69” (2025). Although one of her hallucinations has landed her in the nurse’s office, the stars have aligned for our heroine. A senior at St. Bernadette’s, a private Catholic school, Abby is laser-focused on a new goal for the school year: hooking up with her longtime crush and classmate, Max Warren (Matt Cornett), who is now finally single.
The only obstacle? Her lack of sexual experience. So she hires Santa Monica (Chloe Fineman), a dancer at a local strip club, to provide her with sex education.
“Summer of 69” is comedian and actor Jillian Bell’s feature film directorial debut. Bell, a former “Saturday Night Live” writer, co-wrote the script with Jules Byrne and Liz Nico. All three creators have a background in improvisational and sketch comedy, and it shows. The film swings between laugh-out-loud moments and punchlines that fall flat.
But Morelos’s performance as Abby is quite strong, carrying both the comedic and dramatic beats with equal aplomb. The Filipino American actor, best known for “That ’90s Show,” brings depth to a character whose lack of social interaction has made her a keen observer of human behavior.
As to why Abby hires someone to teach her about sex, the teenager has the funds and the opportunity to spend time unsupervised when her parents leave town for a week. Abby is profoundly lonely. Her parents, though attentive, express care through material comforts: leftover frozen pizza, pastel throw pillows and an abundance of “Live Laugh Love” signs. They notice their only child’s isolation, but address it by giving her gaming equipment — tools that turn Abby into a semi-successful streamer but not a socially equipped teenager.
When Abby wanders into the Diamond Dolls strip club, she is mesmerized by Santa Monica’s confidence and deigns to convince her to be her so-called “sexual fairy godmother.” Truthfully, the dancing is a bit artless. There are spirited hip thrusts and drop-down moves, but the dancer doesn’t even do pole tricks! Nevertheless, there is a dreadful amateur dance number toward the end of the film that made me reevaluate Santa Monica’s skill level.
Santa Monica agrees to take Abby under her wing more out of financial need than sisterhood. Diamond Dolls is on the brink of closure, and she wants to save her coworkers’ jobs and become a co-owner before her 10-year high school reunion — a milestone that has left her feeling stagnant.
A scene where club owner Betty Spaghetti (Paula Pell) explains the stakes of saving Diamond Dolls to Santa Monica and fellow dancers Destiny (Nicole Byer) and Angel (Liza Koshy) establishes the alliance between Abby and Santa Monica. It is also intended to position the group as a family, but there’s an awkwardness to how the women interact with one another. As opposed to the boisterous cross-talk found in close-knit families, the women politely take turns trading barbs. The dialogue sounds more like alternating short monologues than lived-in banter.
The real emotional engine of the film is the growing bond between Abby and Santa Monica. Santa Monica is impolite and has the crass potty humor of a toddler, but Abby seems to find her charming. The dancer is initially a reluctant sex educator, exasperated by her tutee’s ignorance. Santa Monica’s initial impatience with Abby softens when she notices the teenager’s habit of daydreaming to check out of reality. When Abby realizes Santa Monica is anxious about her high school reunion, she encourages her to attend. This cross-generational friendship is atypical, but both of their lives are improved by the presence of the other.
As the women work towards their respective goals, it becomes clear that Abby’s parochial school education has made her somewhat provincial. Abby’s fantasies about Max are romantic, but not sexual. Moreover, she has made it to her eighteenth year of life and is unfamiliar with masturbation. “Summer of 69” treats this revelation not as failure, but as a chance for evolution at one’s own pace — illustrating how late bloomers aren’t broken, just still becoming.
Still, there is a strange inconsistency in how the film presents sex work. Sex workers face high rates of workplace harassment, and while this is acknowledged at different points, one of those instances is presented as humorous. Ostensibly, the viewer is supposed to laugh at the creepy character (a tall order considering the jokes are not very funny). Not only does this make light of sexual harassment, it undercuts an important message: sex workers are knowledgeable about bodily autonomy (something Santa Monica teaches Abby) but that said knowledge comes at the price of having their consent violated.
Ultimately, “Summer of 69” isn’t about sex — it’s about connection. Whether Abby gets with the guy is less important than her ability to learn how to be a good friend. Her struggle to support Santa Monica without neglecting her own responsibilities makes for a nuanced treatment of how being in all sorts of relationships takes practice.
“Summer of 69” may not be a perfect film, but it’s an unexpectedly tender one — and Morelos’s superb performance announces a leading actress worth watching.