Be More Chill

Be More Chill is a novel published on June 1, 2004 by American author Ned Vizzini.[1]

This article is about the novel. For the musical adaptation, see Be More Chill (musical).

Plot

Be More Chill is written in the first person, from the perspective of high school student Jeremy Heere. Jeremy is considered a loser by his popular peers; the popular girls have no interest in him, and he is constantly bullied. Jeremy's best friend is the music-loving Michael Mell. They sit together at lunch and talk about Jeremy's attempts at wooing his longtime crush, Christine Caniglia. Jeremy is tired of being a loser and hopes to find a way to change this. His main goal in life is to get Christine to notice him, and maybe eventually start dating her. Jeremy plans to implement his plans as he and Christine both practice for their school play, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. His advances are slow-going at first.

Michael tells Jeremy that he's vaguely heard of a pill that can improve your life; he thinks it's called a "script" and he suspects his brother used one to get a high SAT score.

Rich Goranski is a short-statured, but well-built part of the popular teen group that bullies Jeremy. He finds Jeremy at a school Halloween party and tells him about the SQUIP. A "SQUIP" (Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor) is a supercomputer in the form of a grey oblong pill made by Sony that can communicate directly with your brain after being swallowed. Jeremy decides to search for this "SQUIP." The pill is used to become cooler and comes with different avatar voices such as Sean Connery, Keanu Reeves, a "sexy anime female", etc. Jeremy purchases the pill in the back of a Payless Shoe Store, in hopes of transforming himself from a klutzy loser to a member of the social elite to gain the attention of Christine.

The pill does just that: it instructs him on how to dress, act, talk, and generally comport himself through each day. He quickly gains the attention of Chloe, one of the most popular girls in the school, as well as Brooke, who Jeremy skips class to make out with. Rich stops bullying Jeremy, saying that it was his own SQUIP who was telling him to in order to be cooler.

Jeremy also slowly gains the attention of Christine, as he advances through the social ranks of Middle Borough High School. However, this does come with a price: neglecting his friendship with Michael. Jeremy's SQUIP tells him that Michael is beyond his help and will never be cool, but Jeremy demands that his SQUIP helps Michael. It obliges. Later Michael and Jeremy attend a house party, where Jeremy is forced to hook up with Chloe Valentine, and Rich starts acting deranged. The next morning, Jeremy is woken up to the news that Rich had burned down the house from the previous night and is in the hospital.

The SQUIP comes up with the ultimate foolproof plan to get Christine to fall for Jeremy during the school play. Halfway through the play, after Jeremy's character is "revived" by Christine's, the plan comes into play. Jeremy begins by saying how he's praying for Rich to recover, and how Christine inspired him to join the play. He then professes his love for Christine and asks her to go out with him. Christine, staying in character, is angry at him for disrupting the play, but they continue out the rest of the scene awkwardly. Jeremy tries asking his SQUIP for advice on what to do next and to continue helping him remember his lines, but it does not respond. The drama teacher and play director, Mr. Reyes, then kicks Jeremy out for breaking character. Michael comes across a distraught Jeremy who confesses he acquired a SQUIP that has been influencing him for the last few months. Michael reveals he knew what SQUIPs really were the entire time, and told Jeremy a fake name because he knew that Jeremy would want one if he knew.

The SQUIP returns, apologizing to Jeremy for what he's done, asking to be deactivated as he is apparently faulty, and recommending Jeremy get a new model when it is released. He says that Mountain Dew Code Red will deactivate him. Before he does this, they come up with the idea to do a "data dump", or recall everything in Jeremy's head since the time of him being into Christine, in hopes that she will understand his feelings and why he did what he did. The implication is that the novel itself is the product of this "data dump" and becomes the in-universe book intended for Christine.

Characters
  • Jeremy Heere: The protagonist
  • Michael Mell: Jeremy's best friend
  • Christine Canigula: Jeremy’s love interest
  • Rich Goranski: Jeremy's vertically challenged bully, also has a SQUIP
  • Jake Dillinger: Christine's love interest at the beginning of the book
  • Chloe Valentine: One of the three hottest girls in Jeremy's grade. She has a tendency to dress in the raver style
  • Brooke Lohst: A girl who Jeremy makes out with behind the school
  • Jenna Rolan: The school's gossip girl
  • Mr. Heere: Jeremy's father, works as a divorce lawyer along with his wife
  • Mrs. Heere: Jeremy's mother
  • The SQUIP: A supercomputer that resides in Jeremy's mind
  • Mr. Reyes: A high school drama teacher
  • Nicole: A girl Michael hooks up with at the house party

Adaptations

Stage musical
Main article: Be More Chill (musical)

A musical based on the book, with a score by Joe Iconis, premiered in June 2015 at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where it received positive reviews. It later received an Off-Broadway production in 2018, and ran on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre from March to August 2019.[2] Praised as "a high-energy, imaginative, well-crafted world premiere musical" in The Star-Ledger, Be More Chill was lauded as "a vibrant, inventive musical that makes the most of every moment and features an abundantly talented cast"[3] by BroadwayWorld.

Film

On October 20, 2018, it was announced that Shawn Levy and Greg Berlanti will team up to produce a film adaptation of both the novel and the musical, with Joe Iconis serving as executive producer. 20th Century Studios, who acquired the rights prior to their acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, and with whom Berlanti and Levy have first look deals with, will distribute.[4] Other film producers who contended for the film rights included Nina Jacobson, Ron Howard, Michael De Luca, Marty Bowen, Scooter Braun, Jennifer Todd and Robert Zemeckis.[5]

References
  1. Webber, Charlie. "Be More Chill". Teen Reads. The Book Report Network. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  2. McPhee, Ryan (August 11, 2019). "Be More Chill Closes on Broadway August 11". Playbill. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  3. Kennedy, Marina. "BWW Reviews: BE MORE CHILL at TRT is Terrific New Musical Theater". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  4. Anderton, Ethan. "New Details Emerge on Fox's Future as Disney Nitpicks the Studio's Film Slate". SlashFilm. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  5. https://deadline.com/2018/10/be-more-chill-movie-shawn-levy-greg-berlanti-film-auction-broadway-musical-1202486576/
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