Idiots
Rating: 4/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
Idiots is exactly the type of stoner comedy I wanted it to be. Just the three main leads in this film caught my attention because it begged the question of whether this film would be great, or if it would simply fall flat. Thankfully, writer and director Macon Blair does a fantastic job working with this trio to craft a hilarious, surprising, and unpredictable road trip that viewers won't forget. This is without a doubt one of the craziest movies you will see all year, and I think audiences will truly have a lot of fun with this one.
Idiots follows down-on-his-luck Davis (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), who isn't sure where to go with his life and feels lost. Despite his best efforts, it always seems like he is screwing something up, even if his intentions are good. When he is unfortunately paired with scumbag Mark (Dave Franco), they must transport troubled teenager Sheridan (Mason Thames) to a rehab center, which both men think will be an easy enough job. What they don't expect is to encounter a stripper out for revenge (Kiernan Shipka) and a trio of criminals (Nicholas Braun, Peter Dinklage, Najah Bradley) which makes it almost impossible for Davis and Mark to do their jobs.
Going into this movie, I was expecting a stoner, road-trip comedy that would be reminiscent of previous films of the same caliber from the 2000s. What this movie is, however, is an entirely different entity, a movie that is so off-the-wall and crazy that you can never expect what is going to happen next. In a way, I think that works very well for the movie while also being its downfall in a way. I really enjoyed seeing the crazy antics the characters get themselves into and how they have to constantly keep on their toes to stay alive, but I think the movie does jump around way too much and felt very all-over-the-place at times. I can appreciate what Blair was going for, but I think he had too many ideas that simply don't really fit well together. Was it fun to watch? Of course it was, but at what cost on a storytelling level is it more important for the audience to have a good time rather than tell a cohesive story that flows well?
With that being said, I think every single actor here hits it out of the ballpark. Our trio of Jackson Jr., Franco, and Thames are fantastic in the roles they are embodying for this movie, and I think it's very refreshing to see three talented actors play roles that they really haven't before. All three of them are absolutely hilarious from beginning to end, and I adore the chemistry they all have with each other. I especially want to comment on how fun it is to see Franco play this dirtbag that has no life and Thames playing this chaotic teenager who is all over the place; I think this movie relies on the performances to succeed and the main actors do a brilliant job of doing that here.
What I think is even greater is the fact that the supporting characters here are written so well and are brought to life by other amazing performers in this movie. The three that stand out the most to me are Shipka, Dinklage, and Braun. In terms of Dinklage's performance, he is just so much fun in these sort of comedies, and I always really enjoy what he is able to bring to the screen. But for Braun and Shipka, they play these two characters we haven't seen from them before, and they completely blew me away with their performances. I especially want to highlight Braun, as I honesty never thought we would see him be able to pull off a performance as this heavily-tattooed, bizarre Soundcloud rapper that is honestly quite unsettling at times.
I may be in the minority of those who believe this due to other reactions circulating for this film, but I honestly thought this movie was quite funny from beginning to end. While I don't think the movie has laugh-out-loud humor, there is this sort of subtle comedy from all of our actors that I think works really well. From the way you have to watch their faces throughout the picture to certain scenes, such as when Thames' character drugs both Jackson Jr. and Franco, there is this humor here that works quite well for me because I think Blair does a wonderful job of playing on aspects I personally find quite funny. In terms of stoner comedies, I am sometimes not a fan of the comedic moments that are too over-the-top, and I think this movie does a really good job of finding that nice balance between huge comedic moments and subtlety.
I think this will be a very polarizing picture, but as for me, I really enjoyed this story Blair was able to tell. He found this great group of actors to bring his vision to life, and this movie works as well as I genuinely thought it would. I think this is definitely a movie you need to see a couple of times to truly appreciate everything going on, and I seriously can't wait to check this one out again soon.
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