Do you have that one friend who is your definitive Ride or Die? You guys have built up an awesome friendship through a lifetime of personal connection, vulnerability, and respect? That one person who out of the blue was like “Let’s go on a spur-of-the-moment road trip” and you immediately agree? And that’s no matter the age, you guys could be 17 or you could be 65, and you guys would still drop everything to get together and have a great time. Now what if you guys have drifted apart? What if you guys are on different life paths and no longer have any real connections to each other? What if you guys are going through your own personal baggage and really should be working on yourselves first? That’s what happens in Michael Angarano’s (who’s writing, producing, and acting in addition to directing) latest film Sacramento which is an intriguing road trip dramedy.
Sacramento begins with a grief counseling session where a group of people are dealing with their losses and trying to process them. While a therapist (Rosalind Chao) seems to be running the show, she’s also having assistance from Ricky (Michael Angarano), and it’s clear that he’s not a therapist, but either a current or former patient. He seems to have worked on some of his issues, but he needs to do the last final steps on himself and not lean in on therapy group sessions to help other people and not himself.
At the same time, we have Glenn (Michael Cera), a quirky soon-to-be father who acts in the most Michael Cera way possible. He’s freaking out over this new stage in life (fatherhood), to the point that he damages a brand new baby crib he’s trying to put together due to his nervousness, or is it something else? His very pregnant wife Rosie (Kristen Stewart) is supportive, but it also seems like she suffers in silence from some of his behavior. Everything changes when out of the blue Ricky shows up at his home, barely hiding in his backyard behind a tree, almost how you would play hide and go seek when you were a child. Glenn almost doesn’t want Ricky around. Glenn doesn’t seem to still believe they have a connection as they’ve drifted apart over the years. But at Rosie’s suggestion, Glenn leaves the house to go and hang a little bit with Ricky.
At first, Ricky says he just wants them to hang out a little in town and catch up, but out of the blue, he tells Glenn that he wants to go on a road trip to Sacramento (hence the film’s title) to spread his father’s ashes in the water. Glenn reluctantly agrees as he feels he needs a sorta spa day as well. It’s revealed Ricky isn’t being as truthful about the reasoning for needing to get away. What is in Sacramento that he’s running to? Or what is he running away from?
While Sacramento bills itself seemingly as a comedy, it’s really a meditation on getting older, changes in life, and dealing with issues of trauma more than going for a quick laugh. It’s very reminiscent of Sideways as it features two buddies who clearly aren’t as close as they once were going through their own midlife crisis and not only have to figure out a way to connect with each other, but they also need to exorcise their own demons. Sacramento introduces Ricky’s former girlfriend Tallie (Maya Erskine) early on in the film which is a very important factor in the third act of the film as she is related to a bunch of Ricky’s unresolved issues. But her reintroduction impacts Glenn in a very strange way that almost derails the film as it goes into uncharted territory, but thanks to some good writing finds a way to blend her as the connective tissue between the issues that both Ricky and Glenn are having on their own and try and resolve.
Michael Cera is often known for playing the quirky side character in most comedies. However, in Sacramento, he gets to step up and co-lead the film and actually flex a little bit of his dramatic muscles. Michael Angarano pulling quadruple duty (writing, directing, producing, and, acting) also steals the show as the badly damaged Ricky who despite his best efforts at trying to help people, he clearly needs to help himself. Towards the end of Sacramento, the two have reached their breaking point but also have found a way to heal together. Maya Erskine and Kristen Stewart aren’t given much to work with as the significant others to our main players, but they still find a way to carry the scenes they are in. There is a period in the second act of the film that introduces two female MMA fighters (Iman Karram and AJ Mendez) the guys meet at a bar that doesn’t feel necessary in the film as they seem to be there to offer Glenn and Ricky temptation of the flesh on a road trip, but they do run a gym that has a fun wrestling sequence between the guys, but still could have been left on the cutting room floor and not used to pad the runtime of the film. As stated before, there’s a big character change in the third act of the film that feels like it’s coming out of left field for the sake of drama and tension, but this jarring change of character does explain itself by the end, but may prove at first to not make any sense.
Sacramento is a very interesting film that focuses on friendship, trauma, family, and healing. While the movie won’t necessarily be therapy for the viewer, it at times is very therapeutic and showcases that everyone should continue to try and figure out what issues they are having in life, and serves as a reminds that even that one friend you haven’t spoken to in years is always one road trip away from helping save you and change your life for the better.
Sacramento is now playing in theaters nationwide.
