PASSENGER SIDE Movie Review (LA Film Fest)
Passenger Side was the movie I enjoyed the least at the Los Angeles Film Festival, which was too bad because I really like Adam Scott (who plays one of the main characters).
Passenger Side follows the story of two brothers Michael and Tobey Brown (Adam Scott and Joel Bissonnette), who drive around Los Angeles running errands for Tobey, although we don’t really find out what for until later in the movie. Nothing much else happens apart from a few weird encounters.
Passenger Side is more of a day in the life of type of movie, where there isn’t really a beginning or an end, it’s just a day we follow in the lives of the two brothers, but even at the end of the movie, their story doesn’t really end there. This is fine when there is a purpose to showing that part of their life, but it just felt like the reason for the errands, when revealed, wasn’t good enough for me to believe Michael would be driving Tobey around all day. And on top of that, the movie has some weird, seemingly purposeless, encounters with random people. It seemed to me like a lot of them were done just for shock value but didn’t really add anything to the story or the point they were trying to make. It actually felt very disjointed and took me out of the movie a few times.
Passenger Side is also a character driven piece and I guess part of the problem was that I didn’t relate with either of the brothers, and I didn’t feel like they were very well defined. Their purpose didn’t really make sense, and their relationship just didn’t really feel real. The movie spends a lot of time with them talking, but I honestly can’t even remember what they were talking about most of the time, which is a problem since the movie is driven by their conversations throughout the day.
Finally, the ending left me unsatisfied. There is some sort of reveal dealing with what the whole day has been about, but it just felt like “so what?”.
Now one of the good things about Passenger Side, which was my original reason for seeing the movie, is that I did enjoy watching Adam Scott’s performance. There is just something about him.
Overall, Passenger Side left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, I did hear some people that enjoyed it, so if that type of movie and story sounds like your type of thing, then you might want to give it a shot, otherwise, I would just skip it.
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Title: Passenger Side
Director: Matt Bissonnette
Cast: Adam Scott, Joel Bissonnette, Robin Tunney
Synopsis: Michael Brown’s (ADAM SCOTT) birthday begins with a telephone call from his estranged, drug addicted brother Tobey (JOEL BISSONNETTE). Tobey is totally unaware that it is his older brother’s birthday, but he is very aware that his car is broken, and he begs Michael to drive him on various apparently legitimate, vital errands.
As Bruce Springsteen has astutely noted, a man who turns his back on his family just ain’t no good, and so Michael puts off his seemingly romantic birthday plans, and with his brother embarks on a sketchy, meandering day long odyssey though the mysteries of Los Angeles County.
As the day wears on, it becomes clear that this drive will lead them to some very unexpected destinations.
Release Date: No release date as of yet.
