Vulture’s take on The Shards argues that the material loses much of its force in the transition from page to screen. What begins as a coming-of-age story about a closeted teenage boy, set against a backdrop of escalating violence, is described as a thinner and more uneven version of Bret Easton Ellis’s dark source novel.
Ellis’s 2023 book is framed as a tragedy and an autofiction-leaning portrait of 1980s excess. In that story, a serial killer and a murderous cult hang over the author’s senior year of high school, giving the novel a tense mix of personal fear, identity conflict, and looming danger.
According to the review, the newer take on The Shards compresses that material into a stop-start blend of plot lines that feel overly familiar. Instead of building a singular mood, it is said to echo elements viewers may associate with shows like Euphoria and Glee, making the story feel more recycled than revelatory.
The result, in this assessment, is a version of The Shards that keeps the outline of the novel’s premise but struggles to match its emotional weight. The review suggests that the blend of closeted adolescence, high school anxiety, and catastrophic violence never fully comes together into a compelling whole.
