Kristen Stewart and Maya Erskine co-star in Michael Angarano’s sophomore directorial effort.
Plot: Following the death of his father, energetic and free-spirited Rickey convinces long-time friend Glenn to go on an impromptu road trip from Los Angeles to Sacramento. Frustrated by Rickey’s Peter Pan complex, Glenn is encouraged by his pregnant wife Rosie to go on the adventure to reconnect. In the worn yellow seats of Glenn’s old college convertible, the two men confront their anxiety-ridden lives, addressing past mistakes and questioning what their futures hold.
Review: Sacramento has an equal amount of sweetness and sadness that it tries to balance. Starring two actors who spent their early careers in Hollywood playing teenagers, Sacramento shows us Michael Cera and Michael Angarano as what could be adult versions of any number of characters from their past projects. Co-written and directed by Angarano, Sacramento is a successor to films like Superbad if they were made through the lens of Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain. A portrait of stunted men dealing with the next phase of their lives, including parenthood, Angarano directs his real-life partners, Maya Erskine and Kristen Stewart, in a movie that is funny and a perceptive look at how important friendship is even when you don’t think you want or need it in your life.
Opening with the meet-cute between man-child Rickey (Michael Angarano) and free spirit Tallie (Maya Erskine), Sacramento shifts a year to find Rickey dealing with the passing of his father. Needing the stability of his best friend Glenn (Michael Cera), Rickey drops in unannounced as Glenn deals with a slew of panic attacks and anxiety focused on the impending birth of his child with his wife Rosie (Kristen Stewart). Not wanting to deal with Rickey’s flakiness, Glenn begrudgingly agrees to accompany his friend to Sacramento, where he wants to spread his father’s ashes. Rosie encourages her husband to make the trip, hoping it will loosen him up as they prepare to have their kid. Taking Glenn’s old car on the six-hour journey to Sacramento, Glenn and Rickey reconnect despite being in very different places in their lives.
The trip takes all the requisite twists and turns of any good road trip movie. Rickey provides the more blatant humor as Michael Angarano blends Kieran Culkin’s Oscar-winning brand of smart-ass commentary with a hidden agenda. At the same time, Michael Cera plays what feels like Superbad‘s Evan or Scott Pilgrim, as portrayed by Steve Martin. Glenn is a mess in every way, not wanting anything to do with Rickey’s shenanigans but still going along for the ride. This includes picking up a couple of women who own a gym and dealing with getting their car towed. As the running time of Sacramento is a brisk ninety minutes, the movie does not spend that long digging into side plots and has Rickey and Glenn reach their destination less than halfway through the movie, which is when it begins to deal with the reality that both protagonists must come to terms with to move on with their lives. Of course, this is not handled in the most mature manner that works for audiences.
As much as Sacramento is about friendship, it hinges on the performances from the leads. Angarano is the loosest he has been in any of his films, as he naturally inhabits Rickey’s personality. There is also a chemistry between Angarano and Maya Erskine as the couple are married in real life and have two children. Erskine’s Tallie is just as flaky as Rickey, but the two complement each other well on screen. Michael Cera and Kristen Stewart are an interesting couple I would never have pictured working well together but they do wonderfully here. Stewart plays Rosie as calm and in control despite contending with Glenn’s high-maintenance personality while also being nine months pregnant. The smaller supporting roles from Rosalind Chao, AJ Mendez, and Iman Karram are brief but effective. This movie hinges on Angarano and Cera playing off of one another, and for the most part, it works.
Michael Angarano co-wrote Sacramento with Chris Smith. Smith, an actor who has written for the series Friends from College and Parental Indiscretion, makes his feature writing debut with this film. Angarano’s directorial debut, Avenues, treads similar territory in dealing with grief and adult friendships. Still, Sacramento shows he has a strong indie sensibility as a filmmaker with a solid appreciation for balancing comedy and drama. Sacramento has all of the tropes that you would expect from an independent comedy, including retro title fonts, a retro soundtrack of obscure songs, credible acting talent, and just the right amount of low-budget location filming. As the movie is pretty short, it tends to feel rushed in places. Angarano wants the audience to focus on the little things that pepper the background, including Michael Cera’s wardrobe and how characters stand in certain scenes. Its quirkiness works to an extent, but that quality sometimes wears a bit thin. Luckily, the cast keeps the movie engaging and worth watching.
Sacramento aims to be endearing and works well because of Michael Cera’s trademark style and the chemistry between the leads. There are hints of an even better film that could have been made if Angarano and Smith had taken a little longer on the road trip angle, and Sacramento could have become the Millennial equivalent of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. As it is, Sacramento is a heartfelt and sweet comedy that never pushes too far into dramatic territory but is not afraid to deal with some serious topics along the way. I would have liked to see more from Kristen Stewart and Maya Erskine as both actors are good but under-used in this story. Good acting and chemistry between Michael Angarano and Michael Cera save this movie and make Sacramento worth checking out.
Sacramento is now playing in theaters.
