A pair of lifelong (albeit hair-triggered) pals, Hannah (Jenna Ushkowitz), famous for a stint on a Jersey Shore-style reality TV show and Brooklyn (Laura Ashley Samuels), a would-be Instagram influencer, make for enjoyable travelling companions in this raunchier variation on Romy and Michelle. Rather than a high school reunion, our pair of recent Los Angeles-transplants rent a car from DUIs (pronounced Dewey’s) and wend their way South, where the plan is to hook up with a friend at Comic-Con. Anyone who’s ever been near the Gaslamp during the annual celebration of everything that’s wrong with cinema knows that once the sun goes down, it’s pretty much wall-to-wall people as far as the eye can see. Oddly, this appears to have been shot on a Monday night in April. (One had to laugh when Brooklyn’s phone suggested the Golden West as THE place to stay.) The movie is only as good as the side trips it takes: Brooklyn turning jealous when Hannah is picked out of the crowd by a fan of her work (Alexandra Daddario) adds depth to their friendship, while a detour to Encinitas dead ends in the expectable. And why were the two shushed by fellow audience members for laughing at a play titled Law & Order SVU: The Parody Musical? Still, the stars bounce off each other rather nicely. And in this case, overlooking some of the sillier subplots can only lead to more laughs. Penelope Lawson wrote and directed. (2020) — Scott Marks
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