Finn Wolfhard and Julianne Moore in When You Finish Saving the World (Beth Garrabrant/Sundance Institute)

My home state of New Mexico has genuinely become a moviemaking capital. Albuquerque convincingly stands in for a mid-size Indiana town in actor Jesse Eisenberg’s clearly—and rigidly—defined writing/directorial debut of a mother and a son with clashing worldviews. It’s also the only genuine surprise on screen.

The mom is played by a cross-armed, tight-lipped Julianne Moore. Realist Evelyn runs a women’s shelter while gawky, grungy 17-year-old Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard) aspires to become rich as a self-described folk rocker with alternative influences. He sings for tips as a virtual busker on a live streaming platform, and has 20,000 fans around the world, a stat he repeats more than once. His motto: “The world would be a better place if people would chill out and listen to music.”  

Evelyn has her standards. She leaves her son stranded when he takes more than five seconds getting ready for a ride to school. On another occasion, when Ziggy greets her after school outside their upper middle-class home, she responds, “I’m not shouting, Ziggy. It’ll speak to you when you’re closer.” And so it goes. In her appearance, she channels early-1970s Gloria Steinem, wearing round-frame glasses with her stringy, straight hair parted in the middle. Meanwhile, Ziggy’s father, Roger (Jay O. Sanders), sits quietly in the background calmly befuddled by the family infighting, enjoying his duck and nightly glass of red wine, until he becomes the sole voice of reason: he calls the two out as narcissists when they forget to attend a reception in his honor. They’re both stunned into silence.

Both mother and son will undergo concurrent pie-in-the-face moments. Ziggy ham-handedly infuses politics into his lyrics to impress a fellow high school student, Lila (Alisha Boe), a committed activist. Evelyn, unconsciously or not, takes under her wing a substitute son, Kyle (Billy Bryk), who has recently moved into the shelter along with his mother. She sees for this courteous, conscientious, and studious senior a brighter future then his current goal of working in his dad’s auto repair shop. (Her interest in Kyle gets kind of creepy when she stalks him at his bus stop). Blithely confident in her connections, she promises she will pull strings to land him a spot at Oberlin. Here she’s at her most condescending, assuring him that tuition won’t be an issue: “They give a scholarship for anything.” Although Evelyn and Ziggy have their talents, neither could be called self-aware. She’s so officious and blunt that when she initiates a friendly chat with an employee, it is so out of character that the colleague assumes she’s about to get fired.

At Sundance, When You Finish Saving the World was part of the annual slate of movies that will be released by distributors within the next six months or so. In no way will this selection be confused with the more challenging or envelope-pushing films in the lineup. Instead, it’s an example of a film that has been given the privilege of an opening night screening most likely based on the name recognition of its director and cast. Though the screenplay is overwritten (Evelyn and Ziggy’s behavior comes off as predetermined), its snappy pace and the collision of contrasts between mother and son will hold viewers’ attention, provided they are not as demanding as Evelyn.

When You Finish Saving the World will be released theatrically on March 4.