Sacramento: A Tale of Change and Growth (Early Review)

Growing up can be hard.  There’s no way around it; the journey from young to old, naive to wise, and irresponsible to responsible has bumps in the road for all of us. For some people, the process is thrust upon them, and others avoid it like the plague, but it’s a journey we all must take.  Michael Angarano and Michael Cera are two men audiences have watched grow up in front of our eyes, but Sacramento –directed by Angarano– might be the first time that we’ve seen them grow up.

At the outset of the story, neither man is read yet. Glenn (Cera) is moments away from becoming a father and riddled with such anxiety that a simple squeak in the crib he’s assembled causes him to break it into pieces. Luckily, his wife Rosie (a scene-stealing Kristen Stewart) is the calmest woman in the world and understands that when the child comes, she’ll have two to raise.  

Rickey (Angarano) is Glenn’s oldest friend, the type that is more id than ego and maybe a little too active in group therapy. He shows up on Glenn’s doorstep for an overdue hangout, which after some minor emotional manipulation turns into a road trip to Sacramento.  

The story that follows is one best described as sweet. Everyone has that one friend, one we came up with but grew apart from as lives diverged and priorities changed.  There’s a particular dynamic to this kind of relationship that Cera and Angarano really nail.  It’s a subtle awkwardness, a push and pull between the closeness of the relationship past and the distance in the present.  Each manage a particular nuance in these roles; both using their expected personas to get audiences on board, and then when it comes time for vulnerability, it lands all the harder. 

Both have past and present and present circumstances to face, and while neither is the other’s first choice to face those with, as in life, that person who knows you best is actually the perfect choice.  Once they get to Sacramento, and come face to face with those circumstances, they’ve brought audiences so far into their dynamic that one can’t help but be invested in what’s happening.  

All of this is helped along by great supporting performances. The aforementioned Stewart, playing the only adult in the room, despite not having the most to do, steals all her scenes regardless. Meanwhile, Erskine, Angarano’s real-life partner, is a welcome presence as a woman who first appears as a kind of manic pixie dream girl for his Rickey, but evolves into something more important as the film went on. Their real-life relationship works for them here, allowing them real space for vulnerability.

Rosalind Chao has a short but memorable appearance, as do AJ Mendez and Iman Karram as a pair of women that Rickey and Glenn spend an adventurous night with. 

Sacramento is a sweet, low-key story of old friends who came up together and now need to grow up together. If it has a major fault, it might be that the film is perhaps too light, not quite plumbing as deep as it could have, considering the set up it provides.  Though at the same time, what is here is terrific and its breezy atmosphere makes it all the more approachable.

Angarano and co-writer Chris Smith have written a relatable and heartfelt story, while Angarano proves himself a director capable of getting great performances from his actors.  Casting himself and Michael Cera in the leads is a real creative stroke.  It gives audiences a chance to see them not as the perpetual teens many have grown accustomed to but as the men they’ve grown into, and then gives us a chance to watch them grow up in front of our eyes. These are men you can’t help but root for, and when their stories pay off in the end, they will undoubtedly leave you feeling warm, glad, and hopeful for their futures –and your own.

still courtesy of Game Theory Films

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Matthew Simpson

Matthew Simpson is a freelance pop culture writer and podcaster based in Vancouver, Canada.  He is a life long Star Trek fan, thinks there are few cinematic streaks on par with John McTiernans’s 1987 to 1990 run of Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October.  He is also rather tall, which is unrelated to the movie thing.

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