Roadie (Review)
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ROADIE (1/06/12; Drama) Ron Eldard, Bobby Cannavale, Jill Hennessy, Lois Smith, Suzette Gunn SCR: Gerald Cuesta, Michael Cuesta DIR: Michael Cuesta MPAA: R for pervasive language and some drug content. |
Eldard is good as Jimmy Testagross, a longtime roadie for Blue Oyster Cult recently cut from the band. With no place to go, no job prospects, and no real skills outside of being a roadie, Jimmy returns to his childhood home in Queens, New York.
Now an aimless middle-aged man stuck in the past with his vinyl records, he reconnects with old crush Nikki (Hennessy), a budding singer now married to his high school nemesis Randy (Cannavale), a douchebag who calls him “Jimmy Testicles.”
As the day (and night) wears on, the trio ends up in a hotel room playing music and slipping back into the characters they played in school. As the drugs and lies continue to pile on, it’s only a matter of time before something break.
After a clumsy first act, Cuesta’s low-key character film hits a stride and breathes when it counts. Roadie is filled with people hobbled by paralyzing nostalgia through the prism of a rock and roll-fueled haze. Everyone knows someone stuck in their youth. Eldard, Cannavale and Hennessey make it painful, and that’s a compliment. (Magnolia)
— DENNIS WILLIS
