After Rickey (Michael Angarano), an adrift ne’er-do-well, ambushes his sort-of best friend Glenn (Michael Cera) in his backyard in “Sacramento,” he drags him on a road trip under the pretense of scattering his dead father’s ashes.
Rickey is indeed mourning but also has ulterior motives involving an estranged lover (Maya Erskine), a mission that inadvertently forces Glenn to confront his own fears about the baby he’s having with his wife (Kristen Stewart) in this warmly funny indie comedy directed by Michael Angarano.
The two can’t help but clash, scuffling clumsily at one point in a parking lot, before pausing in a panting stalemate. The pose they strike — one arm around the other man, the other arm holding steady to the ground — is a mixture of support and attack, a hug and a tackle. It’s an apt snapshot of their friendship.
The film will immediately bring to mind parallels with last year’s “A Real Pain,” and for good reason: Like that film, this is a story of two men going on a trip clouded by grief, one of whom is the anxious, stable family man, the other a tactless extrovert constantly deflecting away from his own emotional baggage.
But Angarano’s work stands capably in its own right; the central love-hate buddy dynamic is familiar, but it’s also imbued with a sweet and playful touch. Angarano is an anchor here, as charming as he is feckless. But it’s also a worthy showcase for Cera, who is given a role that is at once typecast — he is again the nebbishy and awkward straight man — and expansive, providing far more dimension than he’s typically afforded within that mold.
Sacramento
Rated R for language. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. In theaters.
