When the nostalgia hits you at the right time, it’s a hell of a thing. We all know this. We’re all susceptible to this. It hit me and got me real good while watching Nimrods, Lee Kirk’s coming of age/road trip comedy/ode to Green Day. Taken on their own, I like all three of those things, though my level of enjoyment has oscillated over the years. Here the triumvirate combines for a fun, if predictable, movie that knows what notes it needs to hit and does so in amusing fashion. When the movie opened with my favorite Green Day song (“Longview,” if you must know), I could feel my guard dropping. Sometimes I’m a simple man.
The movie, produced by Green Day with a story by credit as well, is about three friends who find themselves tasked with opening for Green Day on New Year’s Eve. The only things standing in their way are the road trip from St. Louis to Los Angeles and the fact that their offer to play with their hero’s was a prank. Nevertheless. Besides, it’s more rock n’ roll to make things happen for yourself.
The three friends are Tommy (Mason Thames), the green-haired Fred (Kylr Coffman), and Chad (Ryan Faust). Tommy is the leader, Fred the goofy burnout, and Chad is the one who gets roped into Tommy and Fred’s plans (aka the responsible one). Together they are Analog Dogs, a pop-punk band that will remind you of a certain other band.
After Tommy gets one over on his big brother, knocking down a ladder and stranding him on the roof while putting up Christmas decorations, big bro strikes back by prank calling (that’s still a thing? The kids are alright.) Tommy and telling him that Green Day wants none other than the Analog Dogs to open their New Year’s Eve show across the country. Having briefly crossed paths with the band at a record signing, Tommy and Fred are all too eager to believe it.
Kirk’s script gives each character juuuuuust enough backstory to give the film a little emotional weight. The most significant being the loss of Tommy’s father, which looms him, his brother Wayne (Keen Ruffalo), and their mom (played by Jenna Fischer). So, when the Tommy, Fred, and Chad, take Wayne’s car to hit the road the boys of stuff to work through on the way to the gig. Now, if you can believe this, their trip ends up being more about the friends they make along the way rather than the Green Day concert at the end of the road. Some of those friends include Olivia (Mckenna Grace), a potential romantic interest for Tommy, as well as Angela Kinsey’s trucker bar owner, Sean Gunn’s drunk mechanic, and, finally, Green Day themselves (Armstong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool). You better believe Fred Armisen shows up too, because why not?
But it’s the boys themselves who end up being the most important friends they make, as the trip brings simmering tensions to a boil and forces them to be real with each other in a way they haven’t been before, thus strengthening their bond and setting them up for a better friendship. Nimrods isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel or dig super deep into its characters, so take what you will from the handful of “serious” moments.
Needless to say, there isn’t an original bone to be found in Nimrods’ DNA. To force an analogy, the movie plays like a greatest hits album. You know all the beats and everything the movie will do before it actually happens, hitchin’ a ride on the backs of better road movies and coming of age stories. On this particular day I found some pleasure in playing the hits.
