There’s something poetic about catching a movie like, The Shitheads on the final night of SXSW.
You’re tired. You’ve seen too many movies. Your brain is running on caffeine, tacos, and bad decisions. And then this movie shows up and says, “Hey… what if we made even worse decisions?” Perfect timing.
Directed by Macon Blair, The Shitheads was one of our most anticipated films to watch at SXSW this year, and turns out it’s exactly what the title promises, and somehow also more than that. It’s a road trip comedy about two deeply unqualified guys tasked with transporting a rich teenager to rehab, which immediately goes sideways in ways that feel both chaotic and weirdly inevitable.
Dave Franco plays Mark, a walking bad decision with just enough charm to keep you from writing him off completely. O’Shea Jackson Jr. is Davis, the closest thing this movie has to a responsible adult, which is saying a lot considering his recent employment situation involves accidentally showing kids Antichrist.
Then there’s Sheridan, played by Mason Thames, the teenager they’re supposed to be transporting. And this is where the movie starts to shift. Because at first, it feels like a dumb road trip comedy. Three idiots in a car. Bad choices. Weird detours. You know the deal. And then the movie reminds you… oh right, this kid is actually dangerous.
That tonal shift hits like a pothole you didn’t see coming. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it does force you to recalibrate what kind of movie you’re watching.
The reason this works as well as it does is the cast fully commits.
Franco is having a blast playing a complete mess of a human being. It’s the kind of performance where you can tell he’s just leaning all the way into the chaos, and it pays off. He’s gross, unpredictable, and somehow still likable in that “I would not let you borrow my car, but I’ll watch you ruin your life from a safe distance” kind of way.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. plays the good guy role, but not in a boring way. He’s constantly reacting to the insanity around him while slowly realizing he might not be as in control as he thinks. That tension is where a lot of the comedy lives.
And then Mason Thames just quietly steals the movie. He flips expectations in a way that makes Sheridan the most unpredictable part of the story. One minute you’re thinking, “Alright, this kid just needs help,” and the next you’re like, “Maybe… everyone should be concerned.”
The supporting cast pops in like chaos generators. Kiernan Shipka brings a fun wildcard energy, Peter Dinklage shows up with his own strange orbit, and Nicholas Braun fully commits to one of those characters that feels like it wandered in from a completely different movie and decided to stay anyway.
This is where The Shitheads gets interesting. Macon Blair clearly wants this to be a broad, almost slapstick comedy, but there’s an undercurrent of something more grounded. These are not good people, but they’re also not cartoon villains. They’re just… messy. Desperate. Trying to do their version of “not the worst thing possible.” And that’s where the movie finds its identity.
It’s a road trip comedy about people who should not be trusted with a road trip, slowly forming something that resembles a connection. Not a clean, heartwarming friendship. More like, “we survived this together, and that has to count for something.”
The issue is that the tone doesn’t always balance perfectly. There are moments where the darker elements push a little too far and disrupt the rhythm of the comedy. It doesn’t break the movie, but you can feel it wobble.
Even when it stumbles, the movie keeps pulling you back in because it’s never boring. There’s always another weird turn, another bad decision, another moment where you’re not entirely sure what’s about to happen next. And in a festival setting, especially on that final night, that unpredictability hits different. It feels alive.
And underneath all the chaos, there’s actually a warm core here. Blair described it as a story about desperate people trying to do their not great best, and that comes through more than you’d expect.
Final Verdict
Final Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The Shitheads is messy, uneven, and occasionally goes a little too far. But it’s also funny, unpredictable, and carried by a cast that clearly understands exactly what kind of movie they’re in. It’s the kind of film that doesn’t always land the jump, but you respect the fact that it went for it anyway.
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