The Pre-Internet Struggle Gets Surprisingly Emotional

MOVIE REVIEW
Last Minute
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Genre: Comedy
Year Released: 2025, 2026
Runtime: 15m
Director(s): Michael Cusumano
Writer(s): Michael Cusumano
Cast: Charity Schubert, Espyn Doughty, Moriah L. Hicks, Blayne Weaver, Donnovan Roe
Where to Watch: shown at the 2026 Tribeca Festival

RAVING REVIEW: LAST MINUTE understands something a lot of nostalgia-driven filmmaking misses entirely. Memory becomes far more meaningful when it’s attached to stress, embarrassment, inconvenience, and chaos instead of an idealized version of comfort. Michael Cusumano’s short doesn’t romanticize the late 80s as some perfect lost era untouched by problems. It remembers how frustrating life could actually be before instant access to information, and that honesty gives the film its personality. I think one of the most intriguing ideas the film explores is that, despite the convenience of technology, life presents us with entirely different issues. But it does this in a way that focuses on the issues of yesteryear.

The story couldn’t be more familiar to anybody who either grew up before the internet or raised children during that period. A twelve-year-old waits until the absolute final possible moment to start a major school assignment, forcing his mother into a frantic late-night scramble to salvage the situation somehow before morning arrives. It’s simple, relatable, and understandable. But what elevates LAST MINUTE beyond a one-joke premise is how carefully it builds warmth around that panic, rather than just mining the scenario for a joke. I loved the mention of subscription-based encyclopedias, an idea that only a very specific generation would understand.

Charity Schubert does a tremendous job holding this all together as Jackie. The performance never tries too hard to manufacture emotion because the situation itself already does most of that naturally. Jackie is stressed, exhausted, irritated, and determined, running on fumes by the time the night spirals out of control. Schubert captures the balancing act of single parenthood remarkably well. She’s clearly frustrated with her son’s procrastination, but that frustration never overrides the instinct to protect him from failure. The film understands love sometimes looks like annoyance operating at full speed.

Espyn Doughty also deserves credit for avoiding the typical over-the-top child performance. Jason absolutely creates the situation, but the film never turns him into an obnoxious punchline. There’s something painfully believable about the confidence kids have when they convince themselves that an impossible deadline can somehow still work out, and the short taps into that mindset without overplaying it. What really surprised me, though, was how effectively the film uses its pre-Internet setting without leaning into nostalgia bait.

Cusumano clearly has affection for the period, but LAST MINUTE doesn’t spend its runtime nudging the audience every thirty seconds with “remember this?” references. The absence of modern tech matters because it fundamentally changes how people interact with problems. The entire night becomes dependent on physical spaces, phone calls, favors, conversations, and community. The film recognizes there’s both humor and melancholy inside that contrast.

Modern audiences will probably laugh at the logistical nightmare unfolding throughout the short, but there’s also something oddly touching about watching people rely on one another in tangible ways. The internet would’ve solved the assignment faster, but it also would’ve erased the human interactions the film quietly treasures. That emotional angle is where LAST MINUTE becomes more than just a nostalgic comedy exercise.

The pacing also deserves praise because fifteen-minute shorts can easily become either overstuffed or painfully thin. Cusumano keeps things moving at a steady clip without making the emotion feel rushed. The comedy comes naturally from escalating circumstances rather than forced punchlines, and the film trusts its audience enough not to oversell every joke. There’s a confidence to the storytelling that makes the short feel breezy without becoming disposable.

Sincerity is really what carries LAST MINUTE. Beneath all the frantic energy and scrambling lies a story about a parent who refuses to let her child fail. The film understands how deeply formative these stressful little disasters can become in hindsight. The assignment itself barely matters by the end. What matters is the memory attached to the experience. The short never feels manipulative or artificially sentimental because the emotions come from recognizable experiences rather than forced melodrama. Cusumano seems far more interested in preserving truth than manufacturing a tearjerker, and the film benefits considerably. Even its nostalgic ideals feel rooted in lived memory rather than pandering to the audience.

In a media landscape constantly obsessed with larger stakes and emotional declarations, there's something heartwarming about a short film willing to find meaning in a panicked homework assignment and one very long night. LAST MINUTE turns frustration into something funny, heartfelt, and quietly reflective without ever losing the grounded humanity that makes the story resonate in the first place. In the end, though, this is so strong because of the parallels it shows; the story works whether you were there to experience it or if it's just something that exists in stories you’ve been told.

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[photo courtesy of WHISKEY CAT PRODUCTIONS]

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