Pizza Movie

SXSW: PIZZA MOVIE 🍕 (2026)

“No matter how bad things are, pizza makes everything a little bit better.” Ain’t that the truth.

Except here, it doesn’t just make things better, it drags two college roommates back to reality after a psychedelic trip from absolute hell.

PIZZA MOVIE, directed by former Saturday Night Live writers Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, had its world premiere in the Narrative Spotlight section at this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival, and it absolutely rips.

This is the kind of comedy you didn’t know you were missing. Imagine Superbad (2007) and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) fused into one chaotic, unhinged fever dream. It’s a “let’s get high and see what happens” story, because life sucks anyway, so what’s the worst that could happen? and then immediately answers that question in the most unhinged way possible, sending two freshmen on a completely derailed, life-altering trip.

I swear I caught a secondhand high just watching this.

It’s peak dumb chaos. the kind where you’re whispering “WTF?” one second and fully losing it the next. A perfect storm of facepalms, belly laughs, and drug-fueled absurdity.

Gaten Matarazzo steps into his first major post–Stranger Things role and goes all-in, shedding that familiar plucky charm for something way more unfiltered. Sean Giambrone (The Goldbergs, 2013) matches that energy beat for beat, proving he’s got way more range than people might expect.

And then there’s Jack Martin, who steals the whole movie. I don’t even know what he’s been in before, but he’s operating on another level. He’s delivering this almost unnerving level of intensity, it feels way bigger than the movie around him, and he sticks out like a sore thumb in the best possible way, which makes it even crazier how well it works in a comedy. His intensity honestly outmatches a lot of recent villain performances, which makes it even more surreal how hard he goes in a campy comedy like this. He absolutely overdoes it, and that’s exactly why it works

That’s the secret sauce here: a cast of not-quite-household names swinging for the fences, turning college life into a full-blown comedic playground.

PIZZA HIGH is loud, chaotic, purposefully dumb, and completely self-aware. Underneath all the insanity, it taps into that classic outcast-comedy truth: own who you are, or the world will do it for you. This has all the makings of a modern cult classic once it lands on Disney+ April 3rd. 

Enjoy!

7.6/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr32mins

Where: World Premiere at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival + Streaming on Disney+ April 3rd.

The Richmond Reviewer Pizza Movie Review - March 16th, 2026.

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