Sacramento (2025)- Michael Angarano, Michael Cera, Kristen Stewart, Maya Erskine
Opening this Friday in theatres is a real pain of a film. Sacramento, which has Michael Angarano with three hats as a star, writer, and director, is an indie comedy that feels a little like one of 2024’s best films. It isn’t that Jesse Eisenberg’s A real Pain has ownership on two close young men going on a journey together while the audience discovers how they are both wildly opposite and shockingly similar, its just that Eisenberg’s comedy did such a lovely job doing it. both features are short, and know this concept works best when you don’t overstay your welcome. Eisenberg also pulled triple duty, and shared the screen with Academy Award Winner Kieran Culkin. Angarano believes his similar, yet polar opposite, is Michael Cera.
I think that is probably where I had the most disconnect is that somehow Michael Angarano, who has only recently started playing characters of a scampish nature, is supposed to ever feel like the opposite of Cera. Cera has made a career of playing the straight man to other more bombastic actors, like Jonah Hill in Superbad, and in general succeeding through his capturing of pure awkwardness oozing out of every scene. From Scott Pilgrim to Juno, he developed a brand, which he is just now trying to mature at 36. I believe the last project I saw with him in it was Christmas Eve On Miller’s Point, which really was ensemble driven, and didn’t give Cera much to do. He has yet to truly change his mold or his perception, so I felt the contrast just wasn’t there. Angarano is trying to break away from a rather similar casting brand he also had when he was younger, so we’re trying to see the evolution of two actors who clearly want their careers to shift in different directions, but are both trying to make shifts at the same time. Where A Real Pain succeeded in finding two actors who are known for being able to stammer through monologues, it also found two actors who inherently feel different from the onset.
Sacramento is really about two people in very different places, with one friend (Angarano) recently losing his father, and asking his estranged friend (Cera) to join him on a trip to Sacramento to spread his dad’s ashes where he wanted to be. It is just a quick road trip from Los Angeles, but it means Cera will have to leave his pregnant partner (Kristen Stewart) behind. but, how can he say no to an old friend in crisis? he can’t. Thus, the road trip, and the idea that at least one of these guys is not alright. Then, in the third act, Angarano really leans in on the idea that the sameness here is that maybe neither of them are alright, which results in him having Cera’s character make a choice that feels out of place and character.
however, with Angarano behind the camera, he clearly has brought his friends to the project. He has a good rapport with Cera. Stewart seems more than happy to be in a rather domesticated role, something she typically shies away from, and Maya Erskine shows up to bring a spark of change in the back half of the film. Everyone here seems to be enjoying themselves, which works for an indie road trip comedy. Angarano has also cast two other family members in smaller roles, one of them being his dad. So, he’s made this a family affair.
Angarano feels like, along with Jesse Eisenberg, they are starting to tread into Woody Allen territory, putting on the three hats and building a film around themselves. Angarano, like Eisenberg, is still in the Annie Hall stage of his career, and knows what works for him, his brand, and what roles people want to see him in on screen. I think, especially after seeing him play a version of this character on the Peacock series Laid, that Angarano is more appropriately cast, and just needed a different co-star to stand in starker contrast.
The film also employs the percussion laden soundtrack that made a mark with Birdman and Saturday night. here, the film isn’t quite as manic, so the scenes the score supports just feel out of place or unnecessary. I like this style of score, I just wonder if a better use of music could have helped the film more. If the film was longer, I might have grown tired of it, but it never overstays its welcome. it is a film I can muse on potential problems, or nitpicky things, without those things having ultimately totally destroyed my experience. I will mention, that I saw this film considerably in advance, and you are only now getting this because of the embargo. So, I didn’t get audio description with my screener, but I feel confident this film will have it upon release.
Sacramento may not garner the same awards buzz like A Real Pain, but for those who enjoy Sundance and IFC type fare, this quick trip up the coast is a breezy choice for your day. it certainly shows that Angarano is capable of doing three things at once, which is far harder than it looks. As an actor, you’re giving in to the idea that you will not be given constructive feedback from yourself about your own performance. Directors can often push an actor further, but if you are the same person, you likely share the same opinion of your own work.
Fresh: Final Grade: B, Audio Description: N/A
