‘Drunk Bus’ takes viewers on an epically funny ride

MOVIE REVIEW

“DRUNK BUS”

Not rated. On VOD.

Grade: A-

“Drunk Bus” ought to be the No. 1 film in America. This very funny and at times touching comedy is the epic tale of a nobody named Michael (Charlie Tahan, “Ozark”) aka Drunk Bus. He’s called that because the young man drives a bus on the college loop of the Kent Institute of Technology in freezing Kent, Ohio, and most of his evening passengers are obnoxious college drunks.

Michael is a classic loser. In addition to a terrible job, his ex-girlfriend Amy (Sarah Mezzanotte) broke up with him after four years of no premarital sex, and she moved to New York City after graduation. He pines for her, fantasizes about her and has several photographs of her because he used to be an aspiring photographer. Amy is coming back to town and has sent Michael a flirty “winky smiley face.” He shares a small apartment with a slob named Josh (Zach Cherry).

Michael is “mentored” by unseen campus bus supervisor Fred (Will Forte), who talks to him over the radio and has another, memorably profane nickname for Michael. Michael is in a real-life “Groundhog Day” where everything is repeated over and over again, every sight, every noise, every passenger, the same misspelled restaurant marquee. He literally rides in circles. This circularity includes a character whose name I cannot repeat. It has three words in it, but I can only tell you the third word is Bob, and the old man rides in an electric wheelchair, and he only says the two words that are the first two words of his name. Michael stops to give deleted deleted Bob a ride every night because it is deep winter in Ohio. After Michael gets sucker punched by a drunk passenger, he is given a security guard named Pineapple (future star Pineapple Tangaroa), an over-sized and over-tatted Samoan-descended real-life Yoda, who speaks in Samoan proverbs and philosophizes about life and becomes Michael’s friend and guru.

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  Charlie Tahan and Pineapple Tangaroa in Drunk Bus (2020). Courtesy of FilmRise.

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  Pineapple Tangaroa in Drunk Bus (2020). Courtesy of FilmRise.

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  Pineapple Tangaroa, Tonatiuh, Kara Hayward and Charlie Tahan in Drunk Bus (2020). Courtesy of FilmRise.

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That is the simple, elegant set-up for this hard-times comedy, which might be this generation’s “Animal House.” The film is perfectly cast by Rebecca Dealy (“Blow the Man Down,” “Farewell Amor”), and the screenplay by first-timer Chris Molinaro is replete with memorable secondary characters. Couple Kat (Winchester-born Kara Hayward) and Justin (Tonatiuh) are a straight young woman and gay Latino young man, respectively. These friends ride the bus and witness a drunken young woman (Sloan Estelle) explosively poop on the bus. Devo Ted (Dave Hill) is a youngish man who makes his living selling things on eBay and dealing weed, who deserves his own movie. Perhaps, he will get to eat those bagel treats in it. A villainous frathouse will get “hammed” with a catapult. In addition to giving advice, Pineapple can wear a pen like a bone in his nose and stick his tongue out of another part of his face. Tahan nails the lovable loser part completely. First-time feature directors John Carlucci and Brandon LaGanke have done an incredible job of bringing Molinaro’s consistently funny, intelligent screenplay to life and helping the actors make their mark in almost every scene, including that dirty, drunken woman. Ride this “Bus.”

(“Drunk Bus” contains profanity, drug use, sexually suggestive scenes and explosive poop.)

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2QB2YiM