Michael Angarano’s “Sacramento” is a comedy/drama that originally comes throughout like a filmed play till it turns right into a self-indulgent actor’s train.
Rickey (Angarano) is an unbearable man-child who has grown other than his greatest buddy, Glenn (Michael Cera). He’s surprised to see Rickey simply present up at his residence after appreciable time aside.
Whereas Rickey has been floating via life and tries to insert himself as an authority throughout group remedy periods, Glenn is struggling to maintain himself collectively because the stress of a child on the way in which is taking a toll on him.
Glenn’s supportive however fed-up and really pregnant spouse (Kristen Stewart) provides Glenn her blessing to affix Rickey on a street journey to Sacramento, the place he plans to unfold the ashes of a lifeless relative.
Angarano, who stars, directs and co-wrote the screenplay with actor Chris Smith, shapes this right into a street film. That solely reveals how far the subgenre has fallen (even “Due Date” and “Kodachrome” had been a lot funnier than this).
The large twist is straightforward to guess instantly, and it usually seems like a sitcom and not using a chortle observe.
The timing of the movie’s arrival is unlucky for Angarano. “Sacramento” is terribly much like a current and much superior comedy/drama that not too long ago garnered Kieren Culkin an Oscar; if “A Actual Ache” might create its personal style, it’s this film.
Nevertheless, “A Actual Ache” was soulful and by no means as needy as this movie. Each movies are about an previous, arduous to love buddy that checks the boundaries of a long-suffering greatest buddy as they journey collectively. Not like Culkin’s character in “A Actual Ache,” I wasn’t joyful to be caught with Angarano’s Rickey.
Cera’s efficiency is far stronger, as his Glenn is best outlined (I appreciated the great character element the place Glenn wakes up in a single mother’s residence after an extended night time and instantly cleans it for her). In any other case, each Glenn and Rickey are annoying.
As an alternative of making a potent, odd-couple pairing, they cancel one another out.
Stewart picks the proper tone for her scenes, which seem to have been filmed in a single day. Rosalind Chao, a jewel of an actress (she ought to have been an Oscar contender for “The Pleasure Luck Membership”) is unfortunately wasted in an early bit.
There’s a slow-motion montage of Glenn and Rickey wrestling whereas drunk which will need to have appeared humorous whereas they shot it. The entire thing turns into like its fundamental character – initially attention-grabbing, then an endurance tester.
Cera’s fanbase shall be extra forgiving, however this can be a good distance from his strongest automobiles (look no additional than “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist” or “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”).
“Sacramento” loses all credibility within the third act. The story takes a wildly inconceivable flip, assumes we’d discover it darkly comedian (darkish sure, comedian, hell no) and hopes each we and the onscreen characters would forgive a deal-breaking act of kid abduction(!).
It’s at that time that “Sacramento” goes from being overly delicate to downright terrible.
I like that Angarano has supposed to make a movie that emphasizes compassion for these down on their luck. Discovering empathy for these we’ve “outgrown” is the core of what “Sacramento” is about however, to cite the late, nice Roger Ebert, the issue with this film isn’t what it’s about, however how I simply wished these characters to develop up already.
I consider that protecting in contact with previous pals and sustaining significant friendships is a necessity, however there’s additionally an consciousness of boundaries and time to contemplate. These characters don’t care about any of that.
Their shenanigans are arduous to look at.
A usually glib line of dialog sums up my emotions for your entire movie. After Rickey provides one other yet one more feel-good assertion (an instance – “anger is simply disappointment with nowhere to go”) and pleads for forgiveness, a personality responds, “I’m sorry, I don’t care.”
Yep, me too.
One and a half stars (out of 4)