Editor’s Word: This assessment was initially revealed throughout the 2024 Tribeca Competition. “Sacramento” opens Friday, April 11, 2025.
As somebody who’s sufficiently old to have seen the likes of “Superbad” and “Youth in Revolt” after they first opened in theaters, it’s arduous to not really feel a bit of unstuck in time as I watch millennial teen icon Michael Cera make the gradual transition in the direction of dad roles (no, the “Juno” loophole doesn’t assist). I used to be utterly unfazed by the truth that he grew to become a father in actual life, however there’s one thing sort of fourth-dimensional about watching an actor develop up on display whereas their most well-known characters keep the identical age eternally. It’s an uncannily vivid illustration of the vertigo all of us expertise as we grow old — how will you be on the point of 40 if you’re additionally nonetheless 18?
However some issues by no means change, and coming of age in tandem with an actor like Cera reminds you of that too. Sure, “Superbad” is a highschool film a few pair of besties who can’t bear the considered being aside, whereas Michael Angarano’s sweetly amusing “Sacramento” is a street film a few pair of estranged outdated buddies whose reunion is totally fueled by grownup neuroses, however the reality is these films have extra in widespread than the 17-year hole between them may recommend. One is a balls-out studio comedy that grossed nearly $200 million, whereas the opposite is a breezy little indie that can in all probability by no means play in theaters once more as soon as its Tribeca premiere is over, however each of them are about males — or at the very least manboys — who grow to be completely unmoored by a transitional second of their lives as a result of they don’t know easy methods to open up to one another. They usually don’t know easy methods to open up to one another as a result of they’ve by no means allowed themselves to confess that they want that sort of help. Take it from a movie critic: Even gawky beta nerds get smothered by their very own internalized masculinity.
If Cera has been reckoning with that actuality on display since he was a child, the character he performs in “Sacramento” doesn’t come to it till he’s about to have a child of his personal. Perhaps that’s as a result of Glenn didn’t be taught to say “I really like you” to his greatest pal earlier than they went to totally different schools. Or perhaps he did, solely to develop up, get married, and progressively neglect how self-revealing it may be to let your self be weak with different males who may perceive what you’re going via.
Both method, the poor man has devolved right into a nervous wreck within the days earlier than his spouse is because of give beginning to their first baby (Rosie is performed by Kristen Stewart in a task that quantities to a glorified cameo, however she solely wants a couple of minutes of display time so as to add one more layer to the “weren’t you only a baby, your self!?” time vortex of a film whose total solid has grown up earlier than our eyes). Freaking out about changing into a father concurrently he’s about to lose his job, Glenn can’t even take a look at the empty crib they’ve constructed within the nursery with out triggering a panic assault, and his extraordinarily pregnant spouse is a bit of too deep into the “get this fucking child out of me” stage of her third trimester to abdomen any of his discomfort.
This may sound just like the sort of half that Cera might play in his sleep, however it’s additionally the sort of half that he can solely play so effectively as a result of he’s had a lot observe; as Glenn spirals out over the course of the film, you’ll be able to nearly really feel Cera attempting to insurgent in opposition to his display persona and hold a fair keel as he’s sucked into the whirlpool of his character’s nervousness. Reckoning with change is a lifelong proposition, and the truth that you’ve seen Cera do it so many occasions earlier than solely provides extra credibility to watching him do it right here.
Rickey (Angarano) is coming at an identical downside from the wrong way. An extroverted slacker who loves speaking different folks via their issues (particularly when it helps him to keep away from confronting his personal), Rickey has stored his everlasting adolescence in examine by shirking grownup obligations altogether. That’s a part of his attraction. The lady he meets within the film’s prologue is all too completely satisfied to share an evening beneath the celebrities with him, although she laughs off the potential of a relationship with somebody who would so clearly bail on her when issues obtained heavy (she’s performed by the at all times glorious Maya Erskine, who additionally occurs to be Angarano’s spouse and co-parent in actual life).
When the story picks up a 12 months later, Rickey spends most of his time in a Los Angeles psychiatric facility; his father’s current demise in all probability has one thing to do with that, however it’s additionally an ideal hiding place for somebody who’s by no means wished to stay in the actual world. Till, that’s, Rickey is a bit of too extroverted in group remedy, and he’s in all probability excused from this system with nothing to his identify however an outdated convertible and a sob story about eager to unfold his dad’s ashes in Sacramento. That’s sufficient to persuade Glenn to not soar out of the automobile when Rickey hijacks their annual hangout into an impromptu 340-mile street journey, or as Glenn mumbles beneath his breath: “An unplanned, long-ass drive to a metropolis I do know nothing about and haven’t any want to be in.”
Is loyalty to an outdated pal and/or nervousness about having a child cause sufficient to spend a day or two away from a spouse who might go into labor at any minute? In all probability not, however Glenn’s willingness to bask in a boys journey — and Rosie’s willingness to let him — is the one capsule that’s arduous to swallow in Angarano and Chris Smith’s light-weight script, which deftly threads the needle between a hangout vibe and extra high-key antics because it makes its method north.
The dynamic between the characters is oppressively apparent at first, as each of them do what they will to maintain the opposite at a distance (Rickey opts for little white lies whereas Glenn retains his mouth shut), however all the film and everybody in it eases into extra affecting territory because the boys come to the mutual realization that they’re every in disaster. By the point Rickey furtively stuffs an empty can of tennis balls filled with dust in order that he can “dump his father’s ashes,” the strained comedian vibe of the primary 20 minutes has given solution to a much less pressured — and infrequently very humorous — collection of intelligent sight gags and acute seriocomic gestures, a few of that are even allowed to blow up into real setpieces (I used to be particularly keen on the psychedelic wrestling match soundtracked to a Invoice Callahan tune).
In reality, “Sacramento” will get higher at such a gentle fee that it feels as if Angarano is easing into his confidence in actual time. Over the course of a second function that’s solely a hair much less modest than his micro-budget debut (2017’s “Avenues”), the “Sky Excessive” star graduates from overeager dilettante to unusually shrewd comedian director, and the ultimate act of the film — which kicks off with a serious pivot that I wouldn’t dare to disclose right here, although it deepens the story in each conceivable method — creates a sustained environment of exasperated anarchy that permits Rickey and Glenn to braid collectively whilst certainly one of them utterly unravels. Each of those boys must man up as a way to be prepared for the subsequent stage of their lives (which isn’t coming quickly a lot because it’s already right here), however neither of them can do it with no little assist from their mates.
Operating eightysomething minutes with credit, “Sacramento” by no means aspires to be way more than an incisively rendered sketch, however its informal nature and outward lack of ambition belie how effectively it manages to convey the fear that change brings into our lives, the mania of attempting to disclaim it, and the aid that comes from recognizing that another person in your world is altering with you. Michael Cera has provided that reward to millennials for the final a number of a long time (if solely second-hand), and Angarano’s movie helps to make sure that he’ll proceed to take action as the children of his era proceed to have children of their very own. That’s the factor about icons: They by no means actually die, however it could nonetheless be fairly gratifying to observe alongside as they grow old.
Grade: B
“Sacramento” premiered on the 2024 Tribeca Competition. Vertical Leisure releases the movie Friday, April 11, 2025.