Jason Orley

Jason Orley is an American writer and director whose best-known feature is Big Time Adolescence, a coming-of-age comedy about an unusually damaging friendship. The film began as Orley’s feature debut and reached the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, where it was shown in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Hulu acquired distribution rights after the festival and released the film on March 13, 2020. Orley wrote the screenplay and directed a cast led by Griffin Gluck as Mo, a sixteen-year-old living in suburban New York. Pete Davidson plays Zeke, Mo’s twenty-three-year-old former babysitter, while Emily Arlook portrays Sophie, Mo’s girlfriend, and Jon Cryer plays Mo’s father.

Orley’s story follows Mo as his admiration for Zeke turns into imitation. Zeke offers access to parties, drugs, and an apparently adult social life, but he is also irresponsible, unemployed, and emotionally stunted. The central conflict is not simply whether Mo will outgrow a bad influence; it is whether he can recognize that affection and loyalty do not make a destructive relationship healthy. That premise gave Orley a way to combine teenage awkwardness with a sharper examination of male immaturity. Reviews commonly singled out the film’s balance of humor and discomfort, and Davidson’s performance helped establish him as more than a comedian playing a version of himself.

Orley has also worked closely with Davidson outside narrative film. He directed Pete Davidson: Alive from New York, a Netflix stand-up special released in 2020. Recorded at New York’s Gotham Comedy Club, the special mixes Davidson’s personal material with jokes about his public profile, family, and experiences in entertainment. Orley later directed Pete Davidson Presents: The Best Friends, another Netflix comedy special, released in 2022. The show is structured around Davidson introducing a lineup of fellow comedians, including older collaborators and friends, rather than presenting a conventional solo hour. This connection reflects Orley’s role as a director who shapes performance-driven comedy while preserving the performer’s recognizable voice.

His feature work is compact. Big Time Adolescence uses a suburban setting, a circle of characters, and escalating consequences instead of a ensemble or premise. Orley’s direction keeps the camera close to Mo’s perspective, allowing scenes that feel like rebellion to become uncomfortable as Zeke’s influence grows. The film’s title points to Mo’s transition into adulthood while the plot demonstrates how little adulthood Zeke possesses. Together, the feature and Davidson specials identify Orley with character-centered comedy, especially stories in which charm conceals insecurity, irresponsibility, or pain.