There is a lot to like in this film, but unfortunately most of it is the potential rather than the actual. The plot sees an awkward and nervous young man cajoled by his mother to drive her across town in order to buy weed. She's already half-cut by the time they get there, but soon he finds himself in the middle of a drug den with quite a few intimidating characters. There is a nice idea in here because we see the main character is very uptight and nervous and it is pretty clear that this has grown into him as a result of growing up with a mother too far the other way. This dynamic is put into a semi-stoner comedy but yet there is something else here as we also get some character exploration and a nice "moment" between two of the characters (an unlikely pair).
The downside is that the film doesn't really ever decide what it wants to do and as a result it ends up falling between two stools. While bits are amusing, they are never really funny because the film doesn't push out into that realm enough. Likewise while the film has nice moments which reveal, it doesn't do it often enough, well enough or cleverly enough and again they exist mainly to highlight what could have been. The cast don't really know how to play it either and ironically it is only the pure clichés that do well, because their lot is clear. Rubin overplays his nerves and awkwardness and ends up being a poor man's Cena or Allen. Luedtke plays dippy and stoned well enough but brings little else. Logan is pretty funny as the imposing character in the drug house.
It is a nice try at heart, but most of the good here is in the idea but not in the final product. It has moments which are good but they never come together and I ended the film thinking about how much better it should have been than it actually was.
The downside is that the film doesn't really ever decide what it wants to do and as a result it ends up falling between two stools. While bits are amusing, they are never really funny because the film doesn't push out into that realm enough. Likewise while the film has nice moments which reveal, it doesn't do it often enough, well enough or cleverly enough and again they exist mainly to highlight what could have been. The cast don't really know how to play it either and ironically it is only the pure clichés that do well, because their lot is clear. Rubin overplays his nerves and awkwardness and ends up being a poor man's Cena or Allen. Luedtke plays dippy and stoned well enough but brings little else. Logan is pretty funny as the imposing character in the drug house.
It is a nice try at heart, but most of the good here is in the idea but not in the final product. It has moments which are good but they never come together and I ended the film thinking about how much better it should have been than it actually was.
