FF '26: Adult Supervision

Adult Supervision, which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, is a dark comedy taking pointed jabs at the modern state of parenting. But beyond the feel-bad humor about the usual bugbears of our time (phone use, cyberbullying, political correctness), first-time director Alex Schulman takes a searing look at the growing pains of childhood and its reverberances in adulthood.

The film introduces its three protagonists in the middle of a parent-teacher conference gone awry, and their personalities are immediately made clear. Bill (Gustaf Skarsgård), sits in the back and nervously watches as tensions heighten; handsome and blonde Pontus (Linus Wahlgren) takes delight in the show; and Bobo (Fares Fares) is the only parent to step in and deescalate. Once the situation resolves, each man ends up volunteering to chaperone an upcoming school trip, accompanying their teen daughters and two dozen other students. 

The trip is to a secluded island, which Schulman shows in miniature form in establishing shots throughout the film. It’s a microcosm not dissimilar from Lord of the Flies, with kids and adults both giving into their baser instincts as the story unfolds. When Bill notices one of the students, Kenneth (Olof Olingdahl), seems to be the target for school bullies, he devotes himself to protecting Kenneth. He’s motivated by his childhood insecurities, but the kids find an easy target in him even as an adult, bucking his every attempt at intervening. Meanwhile, Pontus acts a buffoon, ignoring his daughter in favor of hitting on one of the camp counselors, and Bobo becomes increasingly more authoritarian in his interactions with both Bill and the students. 

Even as the film’s chaos builds, it stays grounded in a realistic portrayal of modern parenting. Bill, a gentle parent if there ever was one, is in the deep end with the school bullies, who Bobo correctly sees as spoiled brats who “know their rights.” They’re used to adults enabling them, surrounded by prototypical helicopter parents who text the school group chat incessantly as the trip goes on. Schulman does well to never caricaturize the elements of modern life he’s lampooning, instead presenting them in ways immediately recognizable to the audience.

Each of the men seems faintly bemused by the youth surrounding them and the new world they’re in, but Bill is the only one to get mired in their antics. Skarsgård gives an almost too hard to watch performance as Bill, who’s much too sweet and sensitive for the casual cruelty of the other students. His emotions are on his sleeve, whether he’s making eager attempts to connect with his too-cool-for-dad daughter or trying desperately to save a fish that the bullies were torturing to death. And it’s not just the bullies who have it out for Bill: Bobo and Pontus hone in on his softness, making him the butt of in-jokes as he tries to match their easygoing bravado. Throughout the film, their interactions are a telling look at toxic masculinity’s distaste for earnestness and emotion.

Adult Supervision makes good use of its isolated setting to tell a fable of masculinity, childhood and social norms, with a progression of tension that results in a gasp-worthy conclusion.

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