PLOT: Two misfits (Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr.) are employed to drop off a rich teenager (Mason Thames) at rehab, solely to run into many bumps within the highway alongside the way in which.
REVIEW: Macon Blair is a extremely distinctive expertise. Initially coming into the indie panorama by way of his collaborations with Jeremy Saulnier (he starred in his movies Blue Wreck and Inexperienced Room, and wrote Maintain the Darkish), he’s additionally carved out a spot as a writer-director together with his 2017 movie, I Don’t Really feel at Residence in This World Anymore, an early Netflix film (and Grand Jury Prize winner at Sundance). He’s again within the indie sphere after directing Legendary’s The Poisonous Avenger reboot with a film that, initially, looks like it’d play out as a Cheech & Chong–model stoner comedy, however finally ends up being one thing a lot darker because it performs out.
Dave Franco performs a task that may’t assist however channel his brother James’ flip in Pineapple Specific, as a drugged-up bozo who, unable to seek out some other work, takes a horrible gig transporting individuals to rehab. His colleague is the considerably extra collectively Davis (performed by O’Shea Jackson Jr.), who, whereas naïve, a minimum of considerably cares about his duties—just for his endurance to be deeply examined by Mason Thames’ Sheridan.
Thames has been rising as a teen heartthrob due to The Black Cellphone films and Tips on how to Practice Your Dragon, however he takes a detour into a lot darker territory because the sociopathic Sheridan. He’s a wealthy teen who’s being taken to a rich particular person’s rehab, however his place in society makes the film’s premise a bit laborious to swallow. We shortly be taught that Sheridan’s crimes had been extreme, and that his billionaire dad and mom did no matter they might to maintain him out of jail, however on this case, why would his custody be left to a low-rent transport company that hires our two titular shitheads?
It’s one in all a number of lapses in logic and detours in tone that depart Blair’s movie feeling prefer it hasn’t been all that effectively thought out. There are just a few actually humorous moments sprinkled in, however it’s wildly inconsistent from scene to scene, particularly so far as our heroes go. Within the first scene, Jackson’s Davis is taken to activity by his pastor for taking a teen group to see Lars von Trier’s Antichrist in theaters, making it seem to be he’s a lovable doofus, however for the remainder of the movie he’s portrayed as principally clever. In contrast, Franco’s Mark is extra constantly dumb, however he looks like extra of a caricature than an individual we must always have empathy for, and the film appears to need us to have some funding in him.
The Shitheads additionally goes into very darkish territory, with Kiernan Shipka coming into the movie as a stripper whose violent encounter with Sheridan ideas the film into one other style, as he’s revealed to be evil quite than merely troubled. But we’re additionally speculated to have some funding in his well-being because the film goes means off the rails within the final third, when the trio runs afoul of a closely armed gang whose members embrace a jacked Peter Dinklage and Succession’s Nicholas Braun sporting Coolio’s coiffure from 1995.
Merely put, The Shitheads is in all places, being a stoner comedy one second and a violent thriller the following. Blair did one thing comparable in his earlier I Don’t Really feel at Residence in This World Anymore, however he had stars Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wooden to floor it. He doesn’t have the identical luck in The Shitheads. Each Franco and Jackson are good (and Thames makes for a convincing sociopath), however they arrive off as caricatures quite than actual individuals, and that retains Blair’s movie from feeling as effectively thought out as his earlier work.
Whereas some could respect The Shitheads for its huge tonal swings, as a film it feels constantly unsatisfying, even when it undeniably has its moments. It’s not a horrible film, however it’s a irritating one in the way it comes “shut” to working at instances however by no means fairly comes collectively as a complete.
