Never Goin' Back Review

R: Crude sexual content and language throughout, drug use and brief nudity - all involving teensA241 Hr and 25 MinutesWriter/Director: Augustine FrizzellCast: Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone, Kyle Mooney, Joel Allen, Kendal Smith, Matthew HolcombA24. Indie comedy. Let’s do this!
Jessie and Angela, high school dropout BFFs, are taking a week off to chill at the beach. Too bad their house got robbed, rent's due, they're about to get fired, and they're broke. Now they've gotta avoid eviction, stay out of jail and get to the beach, no matter what.THE GOODThere is a welcoming simplicity in the premise of Augustine Frizzell’s “Never Goin’ Back” that allows the feature to be a ton of fun. Unlike other films of this genre, such as “Superbad” or “Fort Tilden”, the leads’ motivations aren’t based on getting laid, but on the fact that they need a vacation. Angela and Jessie are two girls who just want one thing and one thing only: to go to the beach.It’s a simple end goal that many can relate to where they just want a vacation and set their sights on it. They don’t give a shit about boys, their job, or anything else for that matter. The only thing that matters to Jessie and Angela are each other. Just two girls who want happiness and are willing to get it any way that they can.
If “2 Broke Girls” was set in Dallas where everyone is as dimwitted as characters in a Mike Judge animated series (“King of the Hill”) and the leads had the same amount of chemistry as the girls in “Broad City” but were the same age as the guys in “Superbad”, “Never Goin Back” would be the absolute love child of all said shows/films and I love it. This movie is one of those stoner comedies that shouldn't be labelled as a stoner comedy, for you can enjoy it fully sober. The film is infused with energetic rambunctiousness that has you constantly laughing from beginning to end.You have model-turned-actress (and DiCaprio's new flame) Camila Morrone and Disney/Freeform (which is still Disney) girl Maia Mitchell transitioning from the small screen to the big screen in a very mature and welcoming debut that showcases their talents. They have a lovable onscreen chemistry with each other that you ride with from the get go. It’s ironic that this was released the same weekend as “The Spy Who Dumped Me” which had professional comedic actresses in a buddy comedy that lacked chemistry while these two fresh-faced actresses who haven’t been in a comedy/feature before deliver the best dynamic duo performance of 2018.
Angela and Jessie are lovable characters mostly for the bond they have with each other and the terrible situations they have to endure in their little Texan hick town. They are terrible people and are prone to make nothing but terrible decisions, but what makes them likable is the fact that everyone around them is worse than them. They are two  assholes in a city of dickheads.This movie could've been the prequel to “Broad City” because the chemistry between Mitchell and Morrone is as irresistible as Abbi and Ilana’s. The two are drug-loving, blank-spaced, carefree girls. Their bond is very redolent of Jacobson and Glazer, which means I love these two. To anyone that doesn’t know, one of my favorite current running television programs is, “Broad City”. So right when I was feeling the familiar vibes I would get off an episode of one of Comedy Central’s best original series, from the way Mitchell and Morrone would interact with each other and their unlucky adventures, I was 100% on board with the film.Jessie is Abbi where she is the more straightforward and calm one while Angela is Ilana for she is reckless, impulsive, fearless to speak her mind, and has a risque sense of humor. But the buck doesn’t stop there. Jessie’s brother looks like K-Fed and is the cause of most of their problems, one primarily being not having enough money for rent. Do you know who that sounds like?
For Pete’s sake, they even have their own Jaime.
I don’t want to keep comparing this film to “Broad City” because it has its own distinct identity that most stoner comedies don’t have. Writer/director Augustine Frizzell elaborately sets up different elements that play into hilarious jokes and story plots as the film goes in while maintaining a consistent comedic tone. This may be a feature film but it has an episodic pace in the way our leads go from one terrible situation to another.Literally a day after attending a screening and Q&A of “Never Goin’ Back”, director Augustine Frizzell was announced to helm Ryan Reynolds’ upcoming stoner comedy entitled, “Stoned Alone”. After seeing seeing this and getting a taste of her humor, I am pumped to see what she does with it.When her characters are stoned, you’re immersed into their high. Some directors try way too hard to have their actors or actresses act stoned, but Frizell really pulls it off. There are moments I caught myself going:
The results of those scenes are hilarious and they don’t aim for the most lowbrow, try-hard humor.THE BADThe only issue I have with this movie probably has to be how sometimes the focus would be on Jessie’s brother, Dustin, whose subplot kind of meanders a bit. He is a totally unlikeable character, which is the intention, but you also hate this guy. You hate him how much Abbi hates Bevers. The actor Joel Allen does a good job being this white trash K-Fed wannabe and his humor never disrupted the tone of the film, but a lot of time you cringe during his scenes.LAST STATEMENTPowered by the impeccable chemistry of Mitchell and Morrone and an eclectic debut by writer/director Augustine Frizzell, “Never Goin’ Back” is a laid back summer comedy that makes you eager to see what the mentioned three will do next.Rating: 4/5 | 85%Super Scene: Angela claps back (Maia Mitchell’s resignation from Disney)