As someone who’s old enough to have seen the likes of Superbad and Youth in Revolt when they first opened in theaters, it’s hard not to feel a little unstuck in time as I watch millennial teen icon Michael Cera make the gradual transition towards dad roles. There’s something kind of fourth-dimensional about watching an actor grow up on screen while their most famous characters stay the same age forever. It’s an uncannily vivid illustration of the vertigo we all experience as we get older — how can you be on the brink of 40 when you’re also still 18?
But some things never change, and coming of age in tandem with an actor like Cera reminds you of that too. Yes, Superbad is a high school movie about a pair of besties who can’t bear the thought of being apart, while Michael Angarano’s sweetly amusing Sacramento is a road movie about a pair of estranged old pals whose reunion is entirely fueled by adult neuroses, but the truth is these movies have more in common than the 17-year gap between them might suggest. One is a balls-out studio comedy that grossed almost $200 million, while the other is a breezy little indie premiering at Tribeca.
If Cera has been reckoning with reality on screen since he was a kid, his character in Sacramento, Glenn, doesn’t come to it until he’s about to have a kid of his own. Poor Glenn has become a nervous wreck in the days before his wife (played by Kristen Stewart) is due to give birth to their first child. Freaking out about becoming a father at the same time he’s about to lose his job, Glenn can’t even look at the empty crib they’ve built without triggering a panic attack. This might sound like the kind of part that Cera could play in his sleep, but it’s also the kind that he can only play so well because he’s had so much practice; as Glenn spirals out, you can almost feel Cera trying to keep an even keel.
Rickey (Angarano) approaches a similar problem from another perspective. An extroverted slacker, Rickey hides from adult responsibilities altogether by keeping his eternal adolescence in check. When we pick up a year later after he meets someone under the stars (Maya Erskine), Rickey spends most of his time in a Los Angeles psychiatric facility following his father’s death—a perfect hiding place. That convinces Glenn not to jump out of the car when Rickey hijacks their annual hangout into an impromptu road trip to scatter his dad’s ashes in Sacramento.
The dynamic between Glenn and Rickey initially feels obvious—they keep each other at arm’s length—but soon evolves as both characters come to realize they’re each struggling with their crises. By the time Rickey furtively stuffs an empty can of tennis balls full of dirt to ‘spread his father’s ashes,’ the comic vibe deepens into more seriocomic gestures and setpieces.
Sacramento gets better at such a steady rate that it feels like Angarano is easing into confidence as a director. From then onwards, both boys need each other’s support more than ever.
Running eightysomething minutes with credits, Sacramento never aspires to be more than an incisively rendered sketch but effectively manages to convey life’s transitions and anxieties. Michael Cera, alongside stellar performances from Angarano, Maya Erskine, and Kristen Stewart, ensures this film offers relatable insights for audiences old enough to remember their early roles while continuing to resonate today.
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