There have been a few films out there that incorporate some actors, who have to be minor actors in order to avoid detection, and then these people act out situations where most of the extras in the scene are completely unaware that they are in a film. This has worked very well in the past for me with productions such as Bad Grandpa which unsurprisingly are the same people who made this film.
The story isn't nearly as important as how the it is told but basically a guy with a dead-end job and not so much happiness in his life randomly encounters a high-school crush and really thinks he has a shot with her. He convinces his best bud to use his gangster sister's car (without her permission) to drive to New York to meet up with her. The things that happen in-between all of this isn't really so much a compelling story as it is a series of hilarious encounters with the public who has no idea they are in a film.
[src](https://img.cinemablend.com/filter:scale/quill/1/c/e/2/b/5/1ce2b586454dacc5cc6b439662727d63e97283ec.jpg?mw=600)In one of the earlier and most cringeworthy moments of the film the two best buds get their errr, "members" caught in a Chinese handcuff (I hope it isn't culturally insensitive to call it that) and they wander into a barber shop looking for help. This results in one of the people in the shop chasing the duo out of the shop, while their nether-regions are still attached, with a very large knife.
According to rumor, co-star Rel Howery briefly quit the production because he claimed that it was too dangerous interacting with a potentially dangerous public like this. Thankfully he was convinced to come back and well, I would imagine that the salary might have had something to do with it.
I have a very high amount of respect for the major actors in this film because it is one thing to be a great actor and be able to remember your lines but a great deal of what you see in this film is completely unscripted and the actors and actresses have to be able to not only stay in character but also be able to handle the unknown because they don't have any idea how the people are going to react.. Some people apparently will pull a knife on you.
In a later scene, a crowded parking lot below sees what appears to be a murder taking place 5 stories above them and it says a lot about human nature that most of the people in the crowd below do nothing or even ignore what is going on behind them. It also showcases some of the better people in our society who go out of their way to help total strangers, even when it results in a somewhat embarrassing situation for them as well.
This is not a new style of film, it has been pulled off by many actors, the most famous of which is probably Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat, Ali-G, and the much less funny Bruno. However, he can no longer do this sort of work very successfully because everyone knows who he is and is world-famous. In his own recent expose about guns in America, Sasha was figured out quite rapidly in most of his would-be skits.
However, this works wonderfully for the 3 major characters in this film because most people have no idea who they are because they haven't been in anything major.
Should I watch it?
I haven't been terribly impressed with the new offerings that Netflix has had recently, especially their originals. This is not a Netflix original but rather one of the innocent bystanders of the Covid situation. It was meant to be released last year in cinemas but after well, you know... it went down the line and got sold to Netflix for an undisclosed amount of money.
This film is really entertaining even though it is really a series of pranks on the public more than any sort of compelling story. I laughed a lot and I think other people will as well. There are a lot of ways to accidentally waste time on Netflix and I don't think this one was a waste at all. This level of acting talent is a rare skill and all three of the major characters absolutely nail it.
