Sacramento (now streaming on Hulu) is a buddy comedy about two men whose buddyhood may be past its expiration date. Two Michaels, Cera and Angarano, play the buddies, with the latter directing and co-writing (with Chris Smith), and the former seeing a quiet career resurgence in the last couple of years thanks to Barbie, The Phoenician Scheme and the upcoming The Running Man. Cera is the heaviest anchor for this odd little film – which also co-stars Kristen Stewart and Mr. and Mrs. Smith Emmy nominee Maya Erskine – that’s endearingly offbeat, and balances itself with some big laughs and keen observations about two men who find themselves in the throes of pre-midlife crises.
The Gist: “Nice dick!”, Tallie yells from across the river, and she can say that, since she’s played by Erskine and the dick-haver is played by her real-life husband, Angarano. He plays Rickey, and the fact that he hiked into the woods by himself and parks alongside a riverbank wearing nothing but an expression of self-satisfaction says something about his loosey-goosey character. Rickey ends up kissing Tallie before we jump ahead a year, to suburban Los Angeles, where soon-to-be-unemployed soon-to-be-father Glenn (Cera) melts down over the concept of keeping a baby alive. He tests the stability of the crib he just assembled and anxiety-attacks it to pieces on the floor. So many safety concerns – it can be overwhelming. But the big question is, if anxious parents can protect children from uncovered electrical outlets and open stairwells, who will protect the children from the anxious parents?
Glenn’s wife Rosie (Stewart) comes home and patiently endures his more-pathetic-than-aggressive state of mind while lugging around a large belly full of fetus. This is when we learn his employer is making cuts and he’s on the chopping block. Rosie assures him it’ll be OK – she’ll continue working and he’ll be a stay-at-home dad for a year and they’ll get by just fine. “And you’re cool with that?” she asks. “As a cucumber,” he replies. “As an actual cucumber. As an actual cucumber.” He mumbles that last line. Trails off. Maybe the cucumber needs to go back in the vegetable crisper in the fridge.
Meanwhile, Rickey wraps up his attempt to hijack a grief-recovery group from its facilitator and drives to Glenn’s house and knocks on the door. Unannounced, uninvited. They grew up best friends, but haven’t spoken in a year. For reasons that remain elusive but inside Michael Cera’s head if you want to fish around in there to find them, Glenn doesn’t want to see Rickey. He hems, he haws, he finally goes out to greet him. Glenn apparently was putting off the awkward reunion, which is smoothed over by Rickey’s presentation of the vintage ’80s Chrysler convertible their younger selves used to cruise around; he’s fixed it up and restored it and there it sits in all its desert-beige boxy blandness, ugly and dumb but possibly symbolic of things.
At this point, Rickey and Glenn exchange sort-of-lies. Glenn hides the fact that he’s about to be a father, although Rickey spotted the broken crib alongside the house. And Rickey shares that his dad died and he wants to drive to Sacramento to spread the ashes, and Glenn should come with him. Right now. To spread the ashes. Which is just dirt in a tennis ball can. Because we see him scoop it in there when Glenn isn’t looking. To spread the ashes in the ocean. Despite Sacramento being 100 miles from the ocean. Nothing adds up to either of them, but Glenn feels a little bit guilted into the trip but also encouraged by Rosie, who probably would appreciate a less-fretful weekend with him gone. After all, these guys have known each other very well for a very long time, and a rekindling would be nice, if they can overcome some stuff, e.g., half-truths, unspoken things that really need to be spoken and – these are the things that really need to be overcome – themselves.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: In reference to the buddy comedy that is Sacramento, one is obligated by the cinema gods to invoke the neo-classic Cera buddy comedy Superbad. Then suggest that Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy might’ve been as big an influence, and add that it might be half of a smart little thematic double-feature with Tim Robinson’s Friendship.
Performance Worth Watching: Cera finds a way to nod to the post-mumblecore weirdo persona that made him famous, while also delivering what may be his most thoughtful and layered comic performance of his career.
Memorable Dialogue: Glenn refuses to answer the door, and watches as Rickey climbs the tree in his yard:
Glenn: I’m phasing him out.
Rosie: Why?
Glenn: He’s a grown man who hides in trees.
Rosie: You’re on the floor hiding from him.
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: Some may see Rickey and Glenn as insufferable and self-involved nimrods, while others might see parts of themselves in them – painful either way. But at least they’re funny, Angarano and Smith shaping their story about the psychological struggles of Elder Millennials struggling to define responsibility, masculinity and maturity within their increasingly stressful lives. It’s easy to see how they grew apart; Glenn chose imprisonment within the trad-family structure and Rickey feeling increasingly untethered with the loss of his father and the gain of a newly functional vehicle that can take him anywhere. Or more accurately, take him wherever, which is a vague non-directional direction that Rickey has long been pursuing, especially emotionally.
Sacramento comes from a long line of men-with-arrested-development buddy comedies – and slightly less so, the road-trip comedy – but Angarano nudges it away from broad yuks and genre cliches. It’s a small, goofy film, shaggy around the edges, and with a comic sensibility playing in an odd time signature. More pointedly, it illuminates the male Millennial malaise within its protagonists, who try to balance the enlightenment and sensitivity of beta-dom and the savage alphas inside them. They’re decent dudes at heart just trying to figure out what their roles are in the world. And it’s no coincidence that the women are the smarter, more stable, less selfish characters in the film.
The boon for Sacramento is its finely honed comedic sensibility, functioning as the sugar that makes this gently acrid medicine go down. If I wasn’t amused, I was laughing out loud as Glenn and Rickey flounder their way through a janky journey encompassing a clumsy evening with two female boxers they meet at a bar, the funniest spreading-of-the-ashes scene since The Big Lebowski (“I’ve seen the ashes of human remains. They don’t have trash in them.”) and, inevitably, the reintroduction of Tallie into the story. With the exception of Rosie – note, Stewart’s role is limited but memorable – nobody in this movie communicates effectively, a conundrum rendered in frequently hilarious fashion. And we walk away believing that these two endearing and relatable shitshow men deserve each other.
Our Call: Sacramento is a subtle, under-the-radar comedy gem. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.