| The indie music scene from 1999 meets the road trip dramedy. Band on the Run does try to liven up the tired road trip and the dysfunctional relationships found therein by pairing it with an invite to the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas and a rivalry with another local band, but most of the movie is not the music, most of the movie is the father-son relationship which is uninteresting and not enjoyable to watch. | | 2025
Directed by: Jeff Hupp
Screenplay by: Jeff Hupp, Colby Clayton Lemaster
Starring: Matt Perl, Larry Bagby
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Matt Perl stars as Jesse, the drummer of the band, and currently working for a soulless advertising company. Friends call him a sell-out, there seems to be a girl at work interested in him, but the office scenes show the low budget nature and the inexperienced actors. Production gets significantly better even if a bit uneven, but the writing struggles throughout.
Back at home, Jesse’s father is in a wheelchair. We don’t know how long he’s been in a wheelchair, if this is a recent issue or a lifelong issue, bits of information that would have been helpful to frame Jesse’s relationship with him. Regardless, what we do know about Thomas is that he’s an insufferable asshole. He is so rude to his wife who takes care of him, that she just quits and leaves with Jesse now realizing that it’s up to him. As Jesse is figuring out how to take care of his father, he finds a letter inviting his band to SXSW. Was the dad hiding it from him on purpose? Unclear. Jesse and band find a van, straps in his father, and they hit the road from Detroit to Austin.
Jesse is a good character, and played by a good actor, but the uneven writing and the awful relationship drama does not do the film any favors. The band seems to think that Jesse is a bad son for not taking better care of his father. The audience has no clue if this is true, maybe, but I don’t think so, Jesse stepped up when his mother ran off and is at least trying in the face of his father’s belligerence, and rudeness, and arrogance. The heart of the story is supposed to be the mending of their relationship, eventually seeing things from each other’s point of view. But that doesn’t really come through, the film is too slight and underwritten for that to work.
The music should be the highlight of the movie. The songs we do hear are good, potentially really good, but the music ends up being such a small part of the movie, and we’re left watching an unpleasant relationship on an uninteresting road trip. This appears to be the filmmaker’s first feature, and it is well cast and well produced, so clearly talent with better things to come.
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