Sundance's "The Shitheads" is... Aptly Named

This past week, the final Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah concluded, showcasing dozens of great new films that will be dominating the zeitgeist for the next year. One of this year's most high-profile releases at Sundance was Macon Blair's new comedy feature: The Shitheads, starring Dave Franco, Mason Thames, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Killer Mike, Kiernan Shipka, and Peter Dinklage. An unconventional adventure film with an A-list cast that unfortunately ended up being much less than the sum of its parts.

The Shitheads follows Mark and Davis (Franco and Jackson), two under-qualified young men who decide to take a job transporting spoiled rich teen, Sheridan (Thames) to rehab. But the two soon learn that Sheridan is far more of a menace than they ever could have imagined. On the way to rehab, chaos ensues.

This year's Sundance Film Festival was particularly busy, with people traveling hundreds of miles to catch the festival one last time in its original location. With boosted attendance, The Shitheads ended up being one of the harder tickets to come across in Park City. This is due to not only the notoriety of the principal cast, but also the director Macon Blair, whose recent film, The Toxic Avenger became an unexpected cult success. Festival-goers lined up for hours to catch a glimpse of the cast and crew's latest vision, myself included. However, I ended up leaving my press screening incredibly disappointed.

The most glaring issue with The Shitheads is the script. There is a decent amount of clever comedy, especially in the first act, and the actors all give solid performances. The standout being O'Shea Jackson Jr who plays Davis in a way that feels believable and deeply human. It's a shame he wasn't given a better script to work with. It genuinely feels like there was no plan for the story past the initial twenty minutes. It's like Macon Blair and company we're just making it up as they went along, leading to a plot that feels disorganized and frankly, amateur. The script is so meandering and aimless, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. At a certain point I was just waiting for the credits. Without spoiling anything, the ending feels completely nonsensical and downright pointless.

The Shitheads feels like a film that would be much more at-home at a festival like South by Southwest, which it is coincidentally appearing at next month. I can see this film getting a few laughs from stoner-comedy fans but will ultimately be forgotten by year's end. There's nothing unique about The Shitheads from either a technical or narrative standpoint. I wanted nothing more than to leave my press screening with my stomach hurting from laughter, but that simply wasn't the case.

Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

What's most surprising about The Shitheads is that it feels so beneath Macon Blair as a filmmaker. Back at Sundance 2017 he won the coveted U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize for I don't feel at home in this world anymore. As an audience member as well as a critic, I know he can do better than this and it's disappointing to see a film like The Shitheads mark his return to the festival he once took by storm.

I have some hope that The Shitheads finds its right audience at SXSW or when it gets a theatrical release. Unfortunately, it's just too disjointed for me. I hope that in the coming years, Macon Blair returns to our screens with a stronger project.