By Erin Free
Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Mason Thames, Jenna Fischer, Keen Ruffalo, Kylr Coffman, Ryan Foust, Mackenna Grace, Fred Armisen, Green Day
Intro:
...a sweet-tinged coming-of-age winner that effectively balances adolescent ribaldry with genuine warmth.
From The Beatles and The Ramones through to The Foo Fighters and Status Quo, rock bands have long dipped their toes into cinematic waters, not just cameoing in flicks, but also devising and producing their own film projects. Now punk-pop titans Green Day join the fray, and it looks like they’ve used Kiss’s cracking 1999 cult item Detroit Rock City as a template. Like that underrated comic corker, Green Day’s Nimrods sees the band principally throwing down with the soundtrack, along with a couple of brief narrative appearances, and a live-on-stage finale. And just like Detroit Rock City, Nimrods works an absolute treat.
At the centre of Nimrods is Tommy (charming up-and-comer Mason Thames from The Black Phone, How To Train Your Dragon and Regretting You), a Kansas high school slacker with a widow mother (Jenna Fischer is fantastically funny) and an antagonistic older brother (Keen son-of-Mark Ruffalo). Tommy’s main joy in his dreary teenage life is playing with his punk band Analogue Dogs, alongside pals Fred (coolly quirky Kylr Coffman) and Chad (Ryan Foust steals all his scenes). When a get-square prank pulled by Tommy’s brother has the trio thinking they’ve been booked to open for Green Day in LA on New Year’s Eve, the boys hit the road with stars in their eyes.
The brainchild of Green Day themselves and co-writer/director Lee Kirk (who previously worked on Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s debut lead acting performance in 2016’s highly underrated Ordinary World), Nimrods is a classic coming-of-age rock’n’roll road movie, punctuated with the kind of raucous humour and heartfelt beats that would make Judd Apatow proud. Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman and Ryan Foust share great chemistry, and their picaresque misadventures offer up loads of fun, as the boys enter a band comp in a shitkicker bar (Analogue Dogs’ songs come courtesy of Green Day), hang and play at a skater party with the very cool Olivia (actress and musician Mackenna Grace is great), and get chased by Fred Armisen’s creepy motel owner.
While Billie Joe Armstrong proved that he could well and truly act in Ordinary World, he just gets a couple of scenes here. The fingerprints of Green Day, however, are all over Nimrods. Their evocative, catchy music (much of it unheard versions of classics, along with one rollicking new track in “I’m Never Gonna RIP”) fills every space; the film’s gritty, roadside aesthetic of grungy diners, truck stops and dive bars clicks tight with the band’s vibe; and their spiky, punk-rock imprimatur gives the whole project a real sense of authenticity. Like Green Day themselves, Nimrods is bratty, insolent, rambunctious and rebellious but never cruel or mean-spirited. It’s a sweet-tinged coming-of-age winner that effectively balances adolescent ribaldry with genuine warmth.
Nimrods will screen in preview at select cinemas on Friday August 14 before opening wide on August 19.
