THE STORY – Two rock-bottom drivers transport a wealthy teen to rehab, but their simple job spirals into a chaotic journey of drugs, danger, and crime as their passenger derails their plans.
THE CAST – Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Mason Thames, Kiernan Shipka, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Braun
THE TEAM – Macon Blair (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 98 Minutes
“The Shitheads” has a pretty straightforward premise: two screwups have to drive a spoiled kid to rehab. Yet, in the hands of writer-director Macon Blair, this story is anything but straightforward. Blair returns to Sundance nine years after winning the festival’s Grand Jury Prize for his neo-noir comedy, “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore.” Here, Blair is pulling on the same neo-noir threads, but with balls-to-the-wall comedy that never lets up. “The Shitheads” is one hell of a ride, with non-stop laughs and absurd, shocking turns around every corner.
Davis (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and Mark (Dave Franco) think they’re pretty different from each other, but they’ve got quite a bit in common. Mark is a fuck-up who doesn’t even try. He phones it in at his sales job, watching inappropriate YouTube videos while distracting everyone else from working. Naturally, he’s fired for being an odious person. Davis, though, really does try, but he still messes everything up. He genuinely wants to help young people: working at a church, taking kids on field trips, and connecting with kids on their way to rehab. He’s fired from the church after taking kids to see Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” (he thought it would be educational and “about passion”). From the second we see the exasperated pastor with an “Antichrist” poster, you know “The Shitheads” is going to be an uproarious journey following these two idiots.
With few options for work left, the two are tasked with transporting a teenager from his house to a rehab facility. This should be a simple job, but the kid, Sheridan Kimberly (Mason Thames), isn’t going to take it easy on them. This spoiled, internet-famous rich kid knows that he’s smarter than Mark and Davis the moment he lays his eyes on them. Nevertheless, they pile into Mark’s Buick Century and head out on the road. The trio could not have been cast better. Thames seems to be eating up every moment of playing a stone-cold terror, while Franco and Jackson butt heads and bounce off of each other with the misplaced confidence of people who can’t do much right. The comparisons to 2008’s “Pineapple Express” are a bit unavoidable, which similarly follows two schmucks, one of whom is played by a Franco. Yes, Dave Franco is operating in a similar vein to what we saw from his brother James in a few roles, but he plays lovable sleeze with such energy that you can’t help but root for the guy. And when they hit the road, the cast is full of constant surprises.
Sheridan is dead-set on making life as difficult as possible for Mark and Davis, running away, outsmarting them, even drugging them. He’s gotten everything he’s ever wanted in his life, so these two morons aren’t going to stop him. Like all the great road movies, “The Shitheads” hits snag after snag in their journey, running into a wild assortment of humans along the way. This movie’s got everything: Peter Dinklage as a gun-toting juggalo, Kiernan Shipka as a stripper with a dream, Nicholas Braun as a Soundcloud rapper named Werewoof, and so much more. You truly never know what’s going to happen next. Every time it feels as though “The Shitheads” is settling into one idea, it zigs away. The turns get increasingly zany as the movie goes on, but Blair doesn’t let it get out of hand. With an impeccable sense of timing, Blair seems to know exactly what his audience is thinking, so he delivers something completely out of left field, yet wholly satisfying. And it helps that it’s unbelievably funny from beginning to end.
There’s some obvious commentary here about the ways in which the rich feel entitled to everything, no matter who they hurt along the way. Sheridan is a little shit, and never really stops being a little shit. In the movies, we sometimes expect the broke guys to get one over on the greedy rich, but here, as in real life, that never really happens. The social commentary is there, but let’s not pretend that “The Shitheads” really prioritizes it. Blair’s writing, sharp as it may be, is more focused on landing shocking comedic blows, and it delivers those in spades. This may not be a groundbreaking work, yet there’s something deeply satisfying about seeing morons who have flubbed every opportunity they’ve ever had finally do something right.
