This is a good month for filmmakers Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney. Later this month sees the release of the terrific dark horror/comedy/love story Over Your Dead Body (an English-language remake of the 2021 Norwegian film The Trip), directed by SNL/Lonely Island alum Jorma Taccone, which Kocher and McElhaney wrote. But this week, the pair have their feature debut as writer/directors, Pizza Movie, the comedic tale of two college roommates who take special drugs called “M.I.N.T.S.,” kicking off the adventure of a lifetime as they travel the seemingly never-ending journey from their dorm room to the lobby of the building (down two flights of stairs) to pick up a pizza that may save their lives—or at least keep them from losing their minds.
Gaten Matarazzo plays the impulsive, somewhat selfish Jack, with Sean Giambrone co-starring as the more pragmatic pushover Montgomery. After they take the drug and experience the early stages of a hallucinogenic high, they find a message from the creator of M.I.N.T.S. (Sarah Sherman) that explains to them the many stages the drug will take them through, including things like body swapping, not being able to lie, or having their heads explode any time they swear. The culminating stage of the trip somehow involves their butts being chainsawed by the thing they fear the most, and all they have to do to not go through that final stage is eat something. So, they order a pizza, which is delivered by a delivery drone (If you live in Chicago, you know exactly what they look like). The drone waits patiently in the lobby while the guys attempt to navigate the many perils of dorm life and the early stages of the drugs, as well as a roving band of evil resident assistants who are taking everyone’s phones and signing them up for the worst housing assignments the college has to get them out of this much cooler dorm. Needless to say, the drama is heightened and the visual are surreal as hell.
And thankfully, the movie is fantastically funny. There are a great number of hilarious subplots and side characters keeping things interesting and distracting our heroes on their journey. There’s their old pal Lizzy (Lulu Wilson), who used to play roll-playing games with them before she fell in with a cooler crowd led by her asshole football friend Logan (Marcus Scribner), who repeatedly traps Jack and Montgomery just to fart on their heads for something Jack did to the team. There’s also Ashley (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), Monty’s crush, who seems really sweet and even likes him a little, but has strange musical tastes; the evil RAs are led by Blake (Jack Martin), who is pure psychopath and seems more intent on murder than simple banishment for the losers he’s targeting. Perhaps the funniest supporting player is the would-be RA Sidney (comedian Caleb Hearon), who just wants to fit in, even though he’s a 31-year-old attending college. And we can’t forget the majestic butterfly, with whom Monty swaps bodies briefly and is voiced by Daniel Radcliffe.
Pizza Movie is modeled after a very specific type of stoner comedy, in which the participants aren’t dirty hippies; instead, these two fancy themselves as something better than that, but as the night goes on, the cracks in their friendship begin to show, and it becomes clear that maybe their bond may not survive this experience because too many truths rise to the surface. The movie feels adjacent to something like the Harold & Kumar movies, which is a wonderful place to be in my opinion, and the level of humor is remarkably similar. But more than that, the idea of a simple task becoming an epic, ridiculous adventure works so well in this context. Matarazzo and Giambrone are perfect polar opposites, and their dynamic propels this movie forward, giving it a note-perfect energy for both the friend moments and the ones in which animosity takes over. A big part of me wishes this film was debuting in theaters instead of online, because crowds would eat this up. But a group of friends on a couch might also get the job done as well.
The film is now streaming on Hulu.
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