Never Goin’ Back review: Maia Mitchell and Camila Morrone lead the cast of this enjoyable stoner comedy from debut feature director Augustine Frizzell.
Never Goin’ Back review by Paul Heath.
Never Goin’ Back review
Maia Mitchell and Camila Morrone are Angela and Jessie, two teen dropouts living in modern day, small-town Texas in Augustine Frizzell’s enjoyable, but often tone-shifting comedy that makes its UK debut at London’s Sundance off-shoot.
We meet the two girls in bed, Jessie waking to discover that Angela has gifted her a hand-drwan penis on the side of her right cheek. We’re in far-from-serious stoner comedy territory here, the pair then erupting into a play-fight amongst the sheets before Angela stops her best friend from repaying the gesture by saying that she has a surprise for Jessie lurking in their housemate’s room. That surprise is a pre-booked trip to ‘the beach’ in nearby paradise Galveston, a vacation that Angela has paid for using their rent money. Getting over the initial anger, Jessie agrees that she and Angela will partake in a few extra shifts that the local diner in which they both work, in the week leading up to their much-needed break together.
What follows is a pretty tight 85 minute feature, full of set-piece after comedic set-piece – well-written situations that prevent these two gitls from hitting their financial target and ultimatey that dream holiday that is dangling in front of them.
Most of the film is really well crafted and acted, though at times the story is just that little bit predicable, and often swerves quite majorly into relying from toilet humour. While this isn’t surprising for a film of its type, some of these situations begin to feel forced and frequently laboured. For example, there’s a running joke where one of the characters is needing to visit the toilet – a plot point that spans a good third of the movie – but the joke wears thin much before its pay-off in the final act.
The film asks a lot from the performances of its two lead actors in Mitchell and Morrone, and both are well up to the task and do manage to carry the film excellently throughout. While they excel, some of the secondary, supporting performances wilt in comparison, but that could be down to the more limited screen time they are given in comparison to the two strong leads. Do watch out for a scene-stealing performance from the brilliant Kyle Mooney, who dazzles in every scene that he appears in.
Never Goin’ Back is a solid feature debut for seasoned shorts director Frizzell – it actually reminded me a lot of Doug Liman’s supremely under-rated 1990s third feature Go, and it is one which will speak to its target audience well and raise more than a few titters, There’s a lot of promise on show from all involved, and while some will struggle with the annoying nature – and, let’s face it, the huge unlikablity of its main protagonists – it’s very easy for us to allow the film to take it for what it is – a light, enjoyable teen romp that manages to press all of the right buttons.
Never Goin’ Back review by Paul Heath, May 2018.
Never Goin’ Back was reviewed at the 2018 Sundance London film festival.
