Sacramento (2024)

Jack and I liked this indie story of two man-boys on a road trip from LA to the title city. It has some laughs and a lot of cringe (we do like cringe) as Michael Cera's Glenn gets more and anxious dealing with his free-spirited pushy friend Rickey, played by director/co-writer Michael Angarano. Kristen Stewart is Glenn's pregnant but patient wife Rosie and Maya Erskine is Rickey's hookup in the first act.

Trivia: Stewart dated Angarano briefly, years before she married her current wife, and Erskine is now married to him since 2023. Watch for brief shots of their actual kids in act three. A yellow 1966 Mustang makes more than a cameo.

Angarano's co-writer is Christopher Nicholas Smith, credited here as Chris Smith, and the composer is Erskine's father Peter Erskine. The soundtrack isn't streaming but I'm enjoying one of his jazz albums on Apple Music as I type.

Angarano, last blogged for acting in Haywire, was also in Lords of Dogtown (2005), Oppenheimer, and seven episodes of This Is Us (Emmy nominated), among his many credits. He directed one other feature, which he starred in and wrote solo. Cera was most recently in these pages for Barbie and Stewart for Spencer. Maya Erskine was wonderful in all 25 episodes of Mr & Mrs Smith. This is Chris Smith's feature debut after working as a staff writer on eight episodes of Friends from College (I liked that series on Netflix), and it's Peter Erskine's first feature as a composer, though he's recorded dozens of albums as a drummer.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics have driven their average up to 84%, while its audiences stayed at the rest stop with only 61. We rented it on June 20.