One of the most compelling young actors working today anchors a formulaic, yet sincere R-rated coming-of-age road trip comedy film loosely based on the origins of Green Day.
Nimrods follows three high school friends – Tommy (Mason Thames), Fred (Kylr Coffman), and Chad (Ryan Foust) – who form a garage punk band named Analog Dogs. Convinced that their band can open for Green Day at the group’s New Year’s Eve concert, the trio embark on a road trip adventure across the country, while encountering obstacles and mishaps along the way.
Nimrods’ familiarity is both its beating heart and undoing. Drawing on movies like Vacation, The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, and more, director Lee Kirk’s film clearly aims for and largely captures the nostalgic, coming-of-age energy of iconic teen comedy movies. Blending comedy, music, and a big cross-country adventure is hardly a novel combination, although this seems to be something the filmmaking team is content with. No one appears to be aiming to reinvent the formula of teen comedies or road trip movies.
Amidst inconsistent attempts at humor, some of which pack quite the laugh and others fall flat on their face, Nimrods possesses an admirable sincerity that goes a long way toward making up for its more predictable elements. That sincerity is especially evident in the movie’s relationship with music. Nimrods was conceived after Billie Joe Armstrong approached the filmmakers about making a Green Day movie, with the story eventually taking shape around three teenagers convinced they are opening for the band on New Year’s Eve. Rather than simply building a movie around Green Day songs, the filmmakers drew inspiration from stories and experiences shared by Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool, incorporating elements of the band’s own youth into the fictional characters and plot. The result is a movie that feels designed as much to celebrate the experience of being a fan as it is to tell a conventional coming-of-age story.
Because of that, Green Day fans are likely to get significantly more out of Nimrods than viewers coming to it without an attachment to the band. The movie embraces the music, nostalgia and communal excitement surrounding Green Day, and its New Year’s Eve concert destination gives the entire journey a clear emotional payoff. One does not need to admire or even be aware of Green Day ahead of watching Nimrods, although pre-existing enthusiasm for the group certainly adds a layer of personality to the viewing experience.
Having led films like How to Train Your Dragon and Black Phone 2 in recent years, Mason Thames proves once again that he is a young talent worth looking out for. Thames gets the opportunity to show considerably more range than he has in some of his previous roles, taking on a character that feels distinctly different from what audiences may expect from him. He brings an earnestness to the performance that fits the film’s more heartfelt moments, while also proving capable of handling its broader comedic tone.
Ultimately, Nimrods is more successful as a movie about friendship, music and chasing an unlikely dream than it is as a comedy or an especially inventive road-trip film. Its story may be generic, and not every joke lands, but there is a genuine affection behind the project that is difficult to dismiss. The filmmakers clearly want to recreate the feeling of discovering the movies and music that shaped them, while passing that enthusiasm on to a new generation. For Green Day fans, that affection will likely be more than enough to make the trip worthwhile. For everyone else, Nimrods is an amiable, sincere coming-of-age road trip adventure and teen comedy that may not reinvent the genre, but knows exactly why these kinds of stories continue to resonate.
VERDICT: 6/10
