source: Loaded

Greetings again from the darkness. Road trips are one of the most common movie genres thanks to creative freedom with characters, settings and locales. The first feature film from writer/director Chris Zonnas give us the reunion of three old high school buddies as they battle current and past personal demons while driving from San Diego to San Francisco. Reza (Kumail Nanjani) and Ethan (Patrick John Flueger) get a call from the father of their friend Alex (Andrew W Walker) who asks that they deliver his son to a rehab facility for treatment of his out of control drug and alcohol addiction. Of course, Alex has no interest in checking in, and most of the trip is spent watching the three age thirty-ish "boys" squabble about how pathetic the others are all while expressing frustration and disappointment in their own life. Alex was born with the proverbial silver spoon, and instead of finding his own path, he dulls his daily life with hard drugs and booze. Ethan was a once promising musician whose band had success with an early hit, but was unable to build momentum, and instead split up. With his broken dreams, Ethan heads half-heartedly into real estate. Reza seems to be the most successful with his career in public relations, a pretty wife, and a lovely home. Instead, the pressure from job and wife eats away at him on a daily basis. Their trip has them crossing paths with a creepy mechanic (Robert R Shafer) who accepts an unusual form of payment for repairs, a tough-minded Sheriff (Michael Shamus Wiles) whose military background drives a practical approach to an unfortunate situation, and a sweet "lady truck driver" named April who develops a crush on Ethan when he kills it on Karaoke night. For some reason, the trailer positions this as a rowdy comedy, when in fact it is mostly a drama with a few quips sprinkled in. There are a few missteps in continuity due mostly to the Ethan/April interlude - something that seems out of place as the boys are struggling to keep Alex away from hard drugs and an extreme solution. Still, Patrick John Flueger is the find here. He flashes some real acting chops (and a nice singing voice) and seems poised for a significant step into quality roles. His resemblance to Chris Hemsworth probably doesn't hurt his chances. Even if he hasn't created an instant classic, Mr. Zonnas deserves credit for putting three guys together on a road trip and avoiding slapstick and gross-out humor, while instead focusing on emotional struggles that come with maturity and real life.

Director/writer Chris Zonnas has created a slightly slow yet attention grabbing road movie that might be loaded with a subconscious theme. Ethan, Reza, and Alex are old friends but at this point in their life not necessarily close friends. Reza and Ethan agree to take their mutual friend Alex to a detox clinic by a request from Alex's father asked for through Reza. That point, which is almost the opening of the movie, captured my thoughts. Why through Reza, why not the father himself, or with the family wealth through some other source? Then as the story progresses you realize the three friends act more as a family than just three buddies. Reza is like the parental figure, he knows responsibility, is reliable and cautious. He reaches a point of frustration as a parent would with a child. Alex is like the spoiled misbehaving child that gives no thought to the future and only lives for the 'now'. Ethan is like the sibling that wants to help the parent but at the same time is not particularly concerned about the situation at hand. Reza guides, Ethan follows, Alex complains and protest while making a fool of himself. By the end these three have had their fight, their friendly compassion, and self awareness while on the road. Reza returns home because he's committed to his not all together nice wife, Ethan sees his path in life a little more clear, and Alex decides that he must change his life or he's at a dead end. This is a good film to think about and interpret. Its not a funny ha ha story but there are enough chuckles to keep the ride light.

Loaded