Two rock-bottom drivers transport a wealthy teen to rehab, but their simple job spirals into a chaotic journey of drugs, danger, and crime as their passenger derails their plans.
Chuck says:
The most frustrating sort of movie, Macon Blair’s “Idiots” provides glimpses of, if not greatness, then at least solid filmmaking throughout. Unfortunately, far too much of it seems underdeveloped or in conflict, intriguing ideas and characters introduced but not fully developed. If ever there was ever a film in need of a re-write or an objective set of eyes, it’s this one.
Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson, Jr. star as Mark and Davis, respectively, two young men at loose ends who, after each losing their jobs, find themselves working for a unique transport company. They’ve been assigned to take Sheridan (Mason Thames), a drug-addled, spoiled brat, to a rehab facility. Little do the hapless pair know, but their charge is a social media star, known for his outlandish, anti-social behavior. Having set a homeless man on fire bolstered his street cred but was the final straw for his parents.
Far smarter than his chaperones, Sheridan escapes before they’re half way to their destination, and though they recapture him, Mark and Davis’s troubles are only beginning. The enfant terrible gets on his socials, describes the car he’s in, posts its license plate number and offers anyone who will rescue him a $5 million reward.
This is an interesting development that could have yielded numerous laughs, but it comes too late. The misadventures the hapless pair endure before this take too long and do little to move the story along. However, the biggest problem is the movie’s inconsistent tone. Too serious to be a buddy movie, not really funny enough to be an out and out comedy, the movie veers from one mood to the next, the viewer unsure just how to react. That we’re supposed to sympathize with someone who set a person on fire and have a couple of laughs along the way, exemplifies the movie’s Jekyll and Hyde nature.
That’s a shame because there are some things that work here. The antagonistic chemistry between Franco and Jackson Jr. is effective and would have blossomed with a better script. Kiernan Shipka steals every scene she’s in as an exotic dancer Sheridan takes advantage of and the film’s final 15 minutes, smart and poignant, is better than anything preceding it. That’s where the frustration lies, as “Idiot’s” third-act shows how good this film could have been had Blair perhaps hired a co-writer to help with his confused screenplay.
2 Stars
