comedy, Dina Drew, drama, film festivals, Jake Ryan, Jeanine Serralles, John Churchill, Lemonade Blessing, Michael Oloyede, Miles J. Harvey, movies, Nicholas David Crocco, Nick Coleman, reviews, Skye Alyssa Friedman, Todd Gearhart, Tribeca Festival, Tribeca Film Festival
July 6, 2025
by Carla Hay
“Lemonade Blessing”
Directed by Chris Marola
Culture Representation: Taking place on New York state’s Long Island in 2012, the comedy/drama film “Lemonade Blessing” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and one Asan) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A freshman student at a Catholic high school is torn between the demands of his religious mother and his atheist girlfriend.
Culture Audience: “Lemonade Blessing” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of well-acted and fairly unconventional movies about teenagers trying to have their own identities while under the control of strict authority figures.
“Lemonade Blessing” is a quirky comedy/drama about a nerdy teenager at a Catholic school, as he navigates the conflicts of having a strict religious mother and a rebellious atheist girlfriend. The movie is a tart blend of realism and absurdity. Although “Lemonade Blessing” has some teen movie clichés—such as an introverted and dorky adolescent who falls for someone who is more confident and less uptight; awkward first-time sexual experiences; and oppressive authority figures who constantly threaten punishment—the movie has some unique character and situations that are entertaining to watch if you can tolerate a little bit of weirdness.
Written and directed by Chris Marola, “Lemonade Blessing” is his feature-film directorial debut. “Lemonade Blessing” had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. The movie takes place on New York’s Long Island in 2012. (“Lemonade Blessing” was actually filmed in New Jersey.) The movie has some clever observations about how teenagers who are students at religious high schools can be affected by their non-secular education.
“Lemonade Blessing” begins by showing protagonist John Santucci at 10 years old (played by Nicholas David Crocco), as he watches his parents have a terrible argument. The movie then fast-forwards to 2012, when John (played by Jake Ryan) is now 14 years old. His parents Mary (played by Jeanine Serralles) and Pete (played by Todd Gearhart) are now divorced. John lives with Mary, but Pete is co-parenting John through visitation rights.
It’s later revealed that one of the reasons why Mary and Pete got divorced is they fundamentally disagree about religion. Mary is a devout Catholic. Pete, who is either atheist or agnostic, believes in yoga and meditation for spiritual healing. Mary thinks that her divorce is a big stigma for her, even though it’s mentioned later that she went back to using her maiden surname Romano after the divorce.
Mary has very conservative views about John’s sexuality and what he should be when he becomes an adult. Mary expects John to become some type of Catholic Church clergyman, such as a priest or a brother. John doesn’t really know yet what he wants to do with his life.
An early scene in “Lemonade Blessing” shows John masturbating while he’s in a bathtub. (There’s no nudity in the movie, but the sexual activity in the movie is either talked about or implied through body movements.) Mary is aware of what he’s doing and says with disgust to John through the closed door: “If you’re going to sin, do it at your father’s house.”
“Lemonade Blessing” follow John during the first few month of his freshman year at Eucharist High School, a co-ed institution where the students are required to wear uniforms. One of his first classes is a music class, where a teacher named Mr. Myers (played by Nick Coleman) bellows to the students: “Eucharist is where you go to meet God. Eucharist is where you go to find yourself. Eucharist is my alma mater.”
Right away, John catches the attention of a 15-year-old student named Lilith (played by Skye Alyssa Friedman) when he offers her his seat. Lilith repays this kindness by lying to the teacher and saying that John pulled her pigtails. Mr. Myers automatically believes Lilith, and John is sent to the principal’s office as punishment.
John doesn’t make friends easily, but he does establish a rapport with a fellow student named Angelo (played by Miles J. Harvey), who talks a lot about sex. Angelo also brags that he watches a lot of porn. In one of the first conversations that Angelo has with John, Angelo offers to give John a porn video of a naked woman farting on a cake? Why? Just because Angelo wants John to know that Angelo has access to this type of video. Later, Angelo admits he has no experience in real life with dating or sex.
Even though Lilith purposely did something negative to John during the first time that they met each other, he is attracted to her and wants her to be his first girlfriend. Angelo encourages John to make the first move. And so, when John has a chance, he nervously asks Lilith out on a date.
Lilith’s responds by saying, “I don’t want to date anyone who believes in God, the Tooth Fairy or Santa.” John says he only believes in the Tooth Fairy because he finds money underneath his pillow.” John mentions that his parents are divorced, and Lilith says her parents are divorced too. Later, Lilith pressures John to say “Fuck Jesus” in a derogatory way, to prove that he’s not religious.
She agrees to date John after he passes her “tests,” but John finds out that she is problematic in other ways, such having a habit of lying. When John goes over to Lilith’s house for the first time to meet her father Mitch (played by John Churchill), John finds out that Lilith’s real name is Rachel and her parents are still happily married. Mitch’s wife Clara (played by Dina Drew) is at the dinner too.
Mitch is also a very strict and religious parent, so that’s something that John and Lilith/Rachel have in common. For example, Mitch demands that John and Lilith/Rachel go to a church service for one of the young couple’s dates. John overlooks Lilith/Rachel’s lies because he’s infatuated with her and eager to experience whatever excitement that Lilith/Rachel has to offer to him.
Meanwhile, after John tells his mother that he has a girlfriend, Mary is happy for John but tells him that when she meets the girlfriend, she has to “pass the mom test”: If John looks happy with his girlfriend, then Mary says she will approve. However, Mary still has a control-freak attitude about John’s dating activities: Mary orders him wait at least a month to hug his girlfriend and to not have sex under any circumstances.
“Lemonade Blessing” doesn’t have big, sweeping dramatic events or a madcap series of comedic antics. It’s a series of scenes where John faces dilemmas about his desire to impress Lilith/Rachel and his desire to have his mother’s respect/approval. These often-conflicting desires are intertwined with his sexual curiosity, which results in John often feeling confused or frustrated.
For various reasons, John isn’t close enough to his self-absorbed father Pete to ask Pete for a lot of advice. The only adult figure who comes the closest to being able to offer John any non-judgmental guidance is a Eucharist clergyman named Brother Phil (played by Michael Oloyede), who correctly senses that John doesn’t really want to be a clergyman. The scenes between John and Brother Phil are short but effective.
“Lemonade Blessing” benefits from great casting because the principal cast members are not only believable in their roles and but they also skillfully balance the movie’s tonal shifts between comedy and drama. Ryan’s portrayal of John is witty and charming and will make viewers cringe along with him as he gets himself into some embarrassing situations. It’s also an astutely layered portrait of Catholic guilt.
Friedman’s depiction of manipulative Lilith/Rachel would be completely unlikable, but the “meet the parents” dinner scene offers a glimpse into why Lilith/Rachel is the way that she is. During the dinner, her father tells Lilith/Rachel to go to her room and change the tank top that she’s wearing to a top that shows that she has self-respect. It hints at some possible psychological abuse that Lilith/Rachel gets from her father and would explain why Lilith/Rachel does what she can to rebel.
John’s relationship with his mother Mary brings the movie’s biggest emotional gravitas. John is at an age when he’s starting to experience the type of freedom and sexual exploration that Mary does not want him to have. Serrales’ gives a nuanced portrayal of a parent who has difficulty accepting that the sexual repression that she imposes on herself isn’t necessarily going to be the right thing for John.
“Lemonade Blessing” is a well-written and capably directed observation of the challenges and contradictions of religious high schools that preach sexual abstinence to teenage students with the realities of teenagers wanting to have sexual experiences with each other. So many teen-oriented movies are about the teenagers being fixated on losing their virginities or having as much sex as possible. “Lemonade Blessing” avoids that stereotype because it’s more about the teen protagonist wanting to find himself on his own terms, even if he has some uncomfortable stumbles along the way.