Filmmaker Augustine Frizzell’s debut comic feature focuses on Jessie (Camila Morrone) and Angela (Maia Mitchell), high-school dropouts who are not just BFFs but also waitresses at the same suburban Dallas diner. The pair live in a dumpy rental house with Jessie’s goofy brother Dustin (Joel Allen), who dreams of scoring a big drug deal with his “squad”—dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks Ryan (Matthew Holcomb) and hotshot “gangsta” Tony (Kendal Smith). The girls want to go to Galveston for a good time, but when Dustin’s big score blows up in his face, they wind up in juvenile hall, losing their home and jobs. Instead of taking this as a sign to buckle down, the two plan a robbery at a sandwich shop to get the cash to finance their vacation. Never Goin’ Back is loaded with scatological gags, drug humor, and distinctly kinky sexual action, as well as a couple of instances of projectile vomiting (for fans of that). But the main characters are clueless, self-absorbed dimwits in this girls-gone-wild movie that is sporadically funny but deep down rather depressing. Optional. (F. Swietek)
Never Goin’ Back
Lionsgate, 85 min., R, DVD: $19.98, Blu-ray: $24.99, Oct. 30
Never Goin’ Back
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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