Macon Blair has the right amount of cynicism coursing through his films. His latest as director, The Shitheads, lays it out plain and clear: you don’t hate the ultra rich and powerful nearly as much as you should. Through methods blunt, subtle, and hilarious, Blair brings this point home repeatedly. What else to make of a film whose most despicable character is rewarded every step of the way?
Sheridan (Mason Thames) is an amalgamation of every insufferable YouTuber filling the world with one brain rot after another. He’s built to destroy people while a legion of sycophants lap up his every antic with the “isn’t he funny” dismissiveness of the proudly ignorant. Sheridan has literally set a person on fire, which he spins as a net positive for the poor bastard because it resulted in a payoff from Sheridan’s wealthy parents.
Sheridan is an asshole and proud of it.
He also never had a chance to be anything else. The only backstory the script, by Blair and Alex Orr, offers Sheridan is a litany of past indiscretions. All we see of his home life is a passive interest in the young man’s development and trajectory. The family’s main concern is publicity and doing whatever they need to in order for Sheridan to peddle the facade of reformation and accountability.
Countering the misanthropic Sheridan is Davis, a guy caught between sincerity and an inability to get out of his own way. As played by O’Shea Jackson Jr., Davis is genuine in his desire to be a productive member of society. Unfortunately, he has a proclivity for making really dumb decisions. Like, for example, taking kids from a religious school to a screening of Lars Von Trier’s immortal Antichrist and, somehow, sticking around for most of the movie. Poor Davis. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and he cries a lot. Not a funny, exaggerated movie way of crying, but in a subdued way that makes him feel infinitely relatable as a person.
After losing his job with the church, Davis’ next gig is transporting troubled youth to rehab, the troubled youth in this case being Sheridan. Helping Davis is the no-striving, unserious Mark (Dave Franco). Together, they’re a pair of bozos. One is well meaning and the other is…Mark. Their lack of ambition and competence makes them unprepared for almost any task. It may not surprise you to hear that Davis and Mark are almost immediately overmatched by Sheridan, quickly turning a straightforward job into a nightmare road trip.
As with I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore and The Toxic Avenger, Blair has a real knack for darkly funny violence and blunt social commentary. The Shitheads is at its best when it highlights how people like Sheridan are idolized and unlikely to ever face real consequences, no matter how monstrous they are. The anger that laces the script proves cathartic and insightful in these moments. Blair and Orr don’t have a revelatory take on the themes their movie covers, but sometimes it feels good to hear someone call out the obvious thing. That direct commentary makes the film stronger, as it becomes clear that Sheridan is unlikely to ever get the comeuppance he so richly deserves.
Blair is so good at these kinds of movies. As a director, he has a great handle on tone and a good eye for staging his set pieces. This is a low-budget affair, but it’s shot well by cinematographer by Guillermo Garza. Despite the story’s episodic structure, the film doesn’t feel choppy. The ever-shifting Davis-Mark-Sheridan dynamic keeps the film from feeling repetitive or dragging, and the supporting players all bring a spark to their parts. Nicholas Braun, in particular, stands out as a completely deranged crony who steals every scene he’s in.
If The Shitheads doesn’t quite reach the highs of I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, that’s more a testament to the latter’s quality that any sort of mark against The Shitheads. Still, The Shitheads is highly entertaining. Jackson Jr. and Franco have a great chemistry, and Thames manages to keep Sheridan from becoming a complete caricature. The Shitheads won’t make you feel any better about the current state of the world, but it is a good time at the movies.
