Corey Feldman is constantly being asked when he’ll return to acting, and his answer is usually that he’s “soft” retired from appearing on screen while he instead mostly focuses on his music career. But this past summer, he showed up in a new comedy, and a lot of us missed it.
That movie is called Sour Party and it was released just a couple of months ago, but it seems to have flown under the radar of even the biggest Corey Feldman fans, such as myself. Maybe I heard about it in passing? But quickly forgot about it until today, when the trailer accidentally fell into my peripheral, causing me to have a mini-freak out like it was 1989 and I was seeing the Dream a Little Dream trailer all over again for the first time.
Corey plays a quasi-cult leader in this old-school-flavored side scroller that looks both like a throwback to the best ‘80s buddy comedies and the new-school wave of way-out weirdness like this past summer’s The Wrong Girls, starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat, and last year’s One of Them Days, starring my third favorite Virgo* Keke Palmer and SZA, who was making her acting debut. That was one of my favorite 2025 movies, so I’m always on the lookout for something similar. Sour Party looks like it might scratch that itch.
The plot follows Gwen and James, two broke, emotionally stunted 30-somethings barely keeping their lives together in Los Angeles. When Gwen realizes she forgot her older sister’s baby shower, the pair decide they have one simple mission: somehow get enough money to buy the proper gift from the registry and pretend everything is totally fine.
Naturally, nothing is totally fine.
They put together a list of people from their past who they believe owe them money and hit the streets of Los Angeles to collect. What starts as a desperate attempt to save face quickly turns into a bizarre journey through failed artists, toxic exes, questionable friends and some very strange characters. Along the way, Gwen and James may have to confront the uncomfortable possibility that they aren’t always the victims in their own stories.
So how does Gremlins star Corey Feldman fall into all of this madness? He’s playing Leslie, “cult” leader of The Source, who is trying to draw out the maximum potential in one’s true self. He and his followers are doing this through a “variable of techniques” like breathing, primal screaming and quantum manifestation. The role allows Felddog to return to his comedy roots, pulling another ascended performance down from the heavens for what promises to be one of the many highlights in what is sure to become a bit of a cult movie in its own right.
Just don’t call The Source a cult in front of Leslie. He’ll go HAM on you faster than Edgar Frog stakes a vamp. According to Leslie, his backyard lavender hoodie party is about “love and abundance”. Ok, Les, whatever you have to tell yourself. You’ll notice a nice Easter egg nod to Corey Haim’s License to Drive character Les Anderson in there, too.
Gwen and James have sought Leslie out to retrieve the money he borrowed for a “pyramid scheme,” which he takes instant offense to. This all allows Corey to poke fun at his own persona and some of the things that were said about Corey’s Angels back in the day. Feldman always has the best sense of humor when it comes to subverting expectations and laughing at himself.
Corey didn’t exactly wander onto the set of Sour Party by accident. His connection to the film goes back to around 2008 or 2009, when he first crossed paths with co-director Michael A. Drexton and the two began what would become a long-running friendship and creative partnership.
Fresh out of film school, Drexton sent Feldman a short film web series script about a bunch of “wackos who try to build cults around their personality.” Feldman apparently liked the idea enough to sign on, taking on the role of a guru who sits Indian-style surrounded by incense. Because apparently that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
The two continued working together after that first project. Feldman eventually asked Drexton to film a live concert for his band Truth Movement during the launch party for its second album. Their collaborations continued over the years, including Drexton working on Feldman’s “Comeback King” music video.
So when Sour Party came around and the directors needed someone to play Leslie, a completely unhinged cult and pyramid scheme leader (just don’t call him that), Feldman was an obvious choice.
It also gave the two an opportunity to bring their very first collaboration full circle.
Feldman agreed to the extended cameo as a nod to that original project, but they weren’t exactly looking to make Leslie a subtle character. The goal was to make him as “Looney Tunes as possible,” which led to Feldman sporting pigtails and bedazzlements around his eyes, giving the character an absurdly feminine twist that fits right into the wonderfully strange world of Sour Party while playing off certain preconceived notions of him amongst fans and gawkers.
Sometimes a 15-year-old friendship really does end with Corey Feldman wearing pigtails and running a pyramid scheme. If you are looking for the perfect double feature, you should definitely add Going Viral to the night’s mix, which also features Feldman in a rare appearance within another midnight movie that has mostly flown under the radar.
This 2024 sci-fi comedy throws an ’80s kid into a world where a shady AI can turn a nobody into an overnight sensation. Feldman plays Samurai, a legendary gamer who feels like he wandered out of an old-school arcade and somehow landed in a movie about the future. It’s another fun little reminder that Feldman has spent decades bouncing between pop culture eras, which makes his connection to Sour Party feel pretty damn appropriate.
Corey Feldman is currently working on new music as we speak. It feels like we could get another surprise song drop at any moment. But if you’ve been yearning to see The Comeback King return to acting, here are two deep cuts just waiting to turn your Saturday Night into Feld-O-Ween.
(*Do you even need to ask who my first two favorite Virgos are? Richard Gere and Keanu, of course. Who’d you think I was going to say? Leo Woodall? Hmm. Close.)
