10 Distracting Moments That Almost Derailed Recent Movies

I Saw the TV Glow is one of 2024's most unforgettable films - a mesmerising psychological horror about identity that doubles as a potent allegory for the trans experience.

Justice Smith stars as put-upon protagonist Owen, with Smith ultimately being asked to portray Owen across several decades of his life, from an early teenager to middle-age. While Ian Foreman plays a 12-year-old Owen at the start of the film, Smith plays him from 14 years old onwards, and there's no getting around how distracting this is.

Smith, who was 27 years old when the film was shot, may be fresh-faced, but certainly not enough to pass as an early adolescent, especially when he's often in the vicinity of actual high school-age actors.

Yet this was clearly no accident on the part of filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, but rather an intentional choice that works in lockstep with the picture's overall surreal tone, only further cementing how Owen doesn't feel at home in his own body.