“Milk & Serial” (2024) revolves around the people behind the Prank Bros., a YouTube channel devoted to pranks. While Steve, nicknamed Seven (Cooper Tomlinson), plans a birthday party for Marshall, nicknamed Milk (Curry Barker, who was also the writer and director) for his love of whole milk, Seven is also planning a prank for content on their channel unaware how things will escalate. If you are curious about Barker before seeing “Obsession” (2026), go for it, but no need if you have already seen his big break film.
Seven starts the proceeding reckless and extreme so it seems unlikely that anyone could top his antics. The title and the poster give away the twist, and “Milk & Serial” picks up momentum when Milk starts filming his confessionals. The other friends in their orbit feel ill-defined and more like place setters than individuals, but add credibility that the two are functional, popular figures and ordinary guys. Barker and Tomlinson, known as “that’s a bad idea” on social media, are seamless at playing their outlandish characters completely straight. Curry is such a convincing actor that it is sad that he does not appear onscreen during “Obsession” (is he the voice on the phone?), but if he did, maybe it would disrupt the suspension of disbelief because he does not have an everyman face and would overshadow the other actors in even a brief appearance whereas Tomlinson can go under the radar. The problem is that pranksters are so repellent, and they are so good at playing them, that it may feel like a big ask to hang out with them for so long.
At sixty-two minutes, “Milk & Serial” would have made a better story if it was shorter or longer. Shorter if the story remained narrowly focused on the duo after the second prank, and longer if it started earlier then did not rush to the explosive denouement. While watching the flick, it is puzzling how Milk could stay in the closet as long as he did, and the tension in the friendship intensifies too quickly. The found footage aspect is fine except monotony kicks in when the perspective shifts and certain events repeat. If you still want to get a sense of the team’s work, but less of a time commitment and more of a perfect package, go to their TikTok channel.
