Never Goin' Back

You lose track reminiscing the laugh-out-loud moments in Augustine Frizzell's debut feature "Never Goin' Back," a riotously funny film that follows two high school dropouts as they navigate their way through the last week before their beach vacation.

Herein lies the hilarity, because Angela (Maia Mitchell) and Jessie (Camila Morrone) are anything but financially prepared to take a vacation. They're on the verge of being fired from their waitress jobs and they're short on rent, leading the pair on misadventures that are too deliciously entertaining to spoil in text. One thing's for sure, though, and that's the fact that "Never Goin' Back" has one of the greatest gross-out gags of all time.

If subjects like constipation, cocaine and cannabis cookies vex you, steer clear of this raunchy and audacious affair. For those with a twisted sense of humor and an affinity for characters who push the limits of the unorthodox, Frizzell's film is a goddamn utter delight. By placing its protagonists in such dire circumstances, Angela and Jessie's plot trajectory mirrors the zany financial desperation of iconic kooky characters like Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare's dimwitted criminals in "Fargo."

An even stronger example of this is Jessie's numbskull brother, Dustin (Joel Allen), who spends his days sitting around with his friends concocting get-rich-quick schemes that never pan out. There's also Dustin's weird roommate Brandon (Kyle Mooney), a hapless schlub who unfortunately gets in the middle of everyone's antics.

The ensemble of characters is great, yet Mitchell and Morrone truly own this film. What's so great is that we've seen this plot before, but here we have a twist on something that has now become conventional. Two teenage boys on a desperate hunt for alcohol in order to get laid ("Superbad"). Two stoners looking to find the perfect burger ("Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle"). There are countless other examples, but many fail to reach the bold heights of shameless crudeness that "Never Goin' Back" achieves. It's a film, akin to "Bridesmaids" and "Girls Trip," that proves ladies can be just as bawdy and brazen as the boys -- if not more so.

Frizzell is having a blast in her debut, too, which is evident in nearly every scene. The film has a superb soundtrack used wisely throughout the film, with needle drops that actually enhance the scene. Its editing is snappy, its camera work mindful and its humor-driven blocking admirable. It's one hell of a debut that left me wanting more. Parallel to the title, I'll definitely be going back.