'Drunk Bus' Almost Overcomes Its College Comedy Clichés But Its Wheels Are Just Too Stuck In The Past [Review]

“Inspired by real shit,” (as the opening title cards inform us) the new late-night, college comedy “Drunk Bus” always feels a bit stuck in the past – the 2006 set movie being indebted to the 2000s Judd Apatow-era flicks with an indie film spin akin to “Adventureland” or “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” Meaning, yes, it inevitably has its share of drunken barf jokes and fratty ass-wipes. The parts that make up its storytelling engine might be obvious to any seasoned moviegoer, but they are blatantly honest as well; honest in a way that takes too many young men too long to realize is part of growing up and living an actual life beyond trying to get laid.

Michael (Charlie Tahan) drives the Campus Loop bus during the midnight shift. It has unofficially been dubbed the Drunk Bus because everyone knows its real function, and the school simply can’t officially acknowledge it as such. Having been dumped by his girlfriend, Amy (Sarah Mezzanotte), nine months ago, Michael continues to work his job schlepping drunkards, despite the fact that he has already graduated. His boss (Will Forte, virtually only heard over the radio) lets him know that a full-time job with a $25k salary, plus benefits, sits just around the corner provided he can make it through winter without any traffic incidents.

Jerking off to the same photo of Amy in front of a wall of polaroids – an artistic pastime Michael has given up in favor of pining – almost day and night, he suddenly receives an out of the blue text from her. She’s coming back in town, claims to want to see him, and is acting like nothing happened between them. Constantly redrafting different responses before promptly deleting them, ranging from desperate ‘i miss u’s’ to raging ‘HOW COULD U DO THIS TO ME’ sentiments, Michael gets distracting while ruminating behind the wheel one night and ends up getting his lights punched out by an irate passenger.

When he shows up for his next shift, Michael finds a security guard has been provided for his protection; a jolly Samoan giant called Pineapple (Pineapple Tangaroa), who doesn’t take crap from people. Not so much playing off the difference between Pineapple’s DGAF attitude and Michael’s uptight tendencies, the film refreshingly finds the larger-than-life Samoan slapping him upside the head for wasting his life almost the moment they meet. Introducing him to his weed dealer, Devo Ted (Dave Hill) – whose characterization plays a lot like Alfred Molina in “Boogie Nights” with a penchant for bagel bites instead of bullets, who, you guessed it, really digs Devo – Michael starts learning the value of actually living versus overthinking everything.

With the exception of Pineapple’s infectious personality – the more time you spend with him, the more you learn about him, the more you grow to love him – “Drunk Bus” isn’t adding anything new to the lovesick coming-of-age proceedings. It’s straight-up your typical screenplay formula with a few too many script clichés. Michael is too nice for his own good. He’s ashamed about still being a virgin. He has an obnoxious bozo roommate. You could very easily play bingo with the obvious trappings and the film sadly comes up a tad short of making something more out of them.

Still, it’s far from a bad movie, and to flip a usual turn of phrase, the destination ends up being worth the void-like journey, overall. Themes of missed opportunities, and the unknown impact our actions/lives can have on others, come through strongly. The poignant payoff outweighs routine set-up because almost all of the dramatic angles land in an effective manner, and the film at least aims to comment on ethnic assumptions and undermine the streetwise POC stereotype through Pineapple (a few of his quotes are gold). The movie’s humor is another story, however, swaying from naturally awkward (good) to needlessly immature (bad). Tonal shifts can occasionally be jarring, in keeping with a strange sound mix problem.

Audio choices consistently shift from the initial atmospheric sound setting. A Yo La Tengo-esque beat setting a fall-asleep at the wheel stage all but disappears after stretches of quiet, followed by sudden spikes in the score, almost always underlining an emotion already being expressed by other narrative factors. There are dialog scenes in which the ambient background noise is actively distracting, and key moments which are unfortunately over-directed (one featuring “Moonrise Kingdom’s” Kara Hayward, whose casting rings amusing given the flick’s “Paterson”-lite framework, but who is saddled with a standard Manic Pixie Perfect College Girl character).

There’s a moment about halfway through the movie where Michael quickly goes from a ‘let your hair down and life is but a dream’ moment to ‘finally stand up for yourself at the wrong time and freak the whole world out’ f-up. It plays a bit lopsided from the structural side of things, but the raw truth in the cliché comedy of such an arc is one all folly of youth must go through. If nothing else, “Drunk Bus” succeeds in capturing that period of juvenile transition, like many of the Apatow-era late 2000s comedies did. [C]

“Drunk Bus” is available in select theaters and VOD now.