Jack Begert’s debut is a gritty work that deals with fractured relationships, crime and drug addiction. Set largely over a single nighttime in LA, the story is successfully told from the perspective of three individuals whose lives cross in unexpected ways.

The marketing is pushing this as a dark comedy drama. I have taken recently to pressing play on a film with little-to-no knowledge on what I am watching. Even though David Schwimmer, a widely known comic actor, is the first face I saw, I still didn’t place this as a comedy at all. His character, Martin Solomon, is himself a screenwriter responsible for a fairly shallow NBC bodyswap sitcom called Switch. Struggling to get his debut film made, striving to be taken seriously and suffering in a dysfunctional relationship, we are taken on a journey with his character throughout the film as we piece together why his life is falling apart.

Juxtaposed with this is the tale of AJ (Dominic Fike) and Karla (Talia Ryder), whose night unfolds with a botched robbery, a stolen car, and an unwanted dog that’s eventually called Avacado. It’s the kind of frantic and scatty night that is often a successful starting point for cinematic coming-of-age tales, and Begert handles this part of the story wonderfully. 

Despite their flaws, all three characters have something to latch onto and support. They feel like fully realised and lived-in characters that could have even been explored further beyond the closing credits. As Fred Melamed’s Augustus explains in the opening scene, that’s the kind of exporation that is only afforded to television series these days!

Marry all of this with a beautiful soundtrack and some memorable visuals of nighttime LA, there is much to like about this film.