Sacramento (2024)

As two long time friends, deal with how they have become estranged, one is dealing with the weight of pending fatherhood, which is leading them to become an anxious mess.

Plot Summary

Glenn is within months, if not weeks, of becoming a father, and he is a wreck. Is the crib secure, and is the home babyproof? His job, will he be laid off? Rosie, his wife, is understanding and willing to be the breadwinner for a year, but she needs Glenn to be more stable, for he isn’t really giving her any space to have her own freakouts.

Enter Rickey, a friend of Glenn’s he has long been trying to phase out, who convinces him to not only hang out but eventually go to Sacramento, a 300+ mile trip that, to both of their surprise, ends up being a journey both needed as they enter a new chapter in life.

Cast and Characters

Character’s Name	Actor’s Name
Glenn	Michael Cera
Rosie	Kristen Stewart
Rickey	Michael Angarano
Tallie	Maya Erskine

Glenn

Glenn is a nervous wreck. He might be getting laid off soon, but he knows for sure he is about to be a father, and when it comes to Glenn, an idle mind is the devil’s playground, and it’s starting to really make him annoying to be around for Rosie.

• The actor is also known for their role in “Barbie.”

Rosie

Unlike Glenn, Rosie is employed, thankfully can work from home during her final weeks or months of pregnancy, and while she is patient and kind, she is getting to that point of needing Glenn to work through his stuff and be ready for this kid they are having.

• The actor is also known for their role in “Love Lies Bleeding.”

Rickey

Rickey is a privileged young man. He takes off from life for about a year and has just decided to rejoin the outside world, and his first stop is his childhood friend Glenn, who he needs to join his redemption trip to Sacramento.

• The actor is also known for their role in “In a Relationship.”

Tallie

Tallie is a woman Rickey met hiking who he hit it off with, and once Rickey found himself consumed by someone else, he left her hanging.

• The actor is also known for their role in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

Review

Our Rating: Positive (Worth Seeing)

Good If You Like

• Stories about people going through the life transition of having a child

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Highlights

Jackie and Glen’s Dynamic

Michael Cera is Michael Cera in “Sacramento.” There is dry sarcasm and a bit of naïve confusion, and pair that with the hijinks Rickey, and you get the type of character that has afforded Cera to have a multi-decade career. For as the straight man to Rickey’s nonsense, that leads to so many hilarious moments, especially as it becomes clear Rickey, while lonely and in need of a friend, is also a bit unhinged.

Mind you, in one of the worst ways since he has spent quite some time in group therapy, knows the lingo, and thinks with knowing the words, he is doing better than most. So to watch him try to flip the script on Glenn and go from the one who has issues, to the one who is more stable, that too provides a level of hilarity.

Rosey’s Relationship With Glenn

While the majority of the movie is Glenn being tricked into a road trip, Rosey, his wife and mother to his future child, exists in the background, and while Glenn is very Michael Cera, so is Rosey very much Kristen Stewart. There is a very casual, “Things happen” way of her portraying Rosey, to the point even when there is a scare, she is nonchalant about it all.

But, what we really liked and even respected in some ways is that Rosey gave Glenn the ability to be flawed. He didn’t have to be the man, the provider, and live in the stereotypical role of what the guy in a relationship is expected to be. She recognized things at his job were looking iffy, he was nervous, and while she didn’t want everything to be on her, she also recognized he is going through a shift in his life as well.

In many ways, I think Rosey is one of the few examples, I can quickly fathom from shows or movies anyway, of a woman recognizing and supporting the shift in what it means to be a man in modern times, without making it a big deal or playing down what he is going through considering she is the one carrying the child.

And again, this doesn’t mean she doesn’t hold him accountable, and expect him to step up. There is a conversation about what she needs as his partner. But, it is strange but also lovely to see, in a comedy, a loving and supportive relationship in which no one is enabled but they are given the grace to be human.

The Anxiety Of Fathers To Be

Expanding on that further, I think too often, we don’t get to see men go through the mental and emotional shift that comes with fatherhood. It is either played off or made a joke out of, but never portrayed with the seriousness or versatility women get to have. And to be fair, maybe there is this need for men to be strong and solid and put aside how they feel since, on top of the mental and emotional, women are also going through a very notable physical change. But it’s 2024, and with the conversations about mental health, redefining masculinity, and how much gender dynamics have changed in the last few decades, I think someone like Glenn being portrayed is needed.

Fatherhood is scary. Even if you want to be modern and push beyond gender norms, that doesn’t mean some things haven’t long been embedded in you, either by nature or nurture and if you don’t live up to them, it can make you go mad. For example, Glenn builds a crib, and because the crib doesn’t seem stable to him, he loses his mind. This is the place where his kid will sleep, likely jump, and be playful, and his construction could mean either safety, harm, or, in his wildest nightmares, death.

He can’t convey this to Rosey because she has enough on her plate and is already approaching her limits to understanding. Glenn doesn’t have friends, and while, as shown by Rickey, there are groups out there of which men are a part, that isn’t the norm in Glenn’s world. He, like Rickey, didn’t grow up with a father figure, so on top of their self-imposed expectations and that of society, they have to come up with what precedent they are going to set in their child’s life without a tangible blueprint.

It all makes for the type of comedy which is so rooted in reality that it pushes the idea Michael Angarano and Christopher Nicholas Smith are students of Pamela Adlon but didn’t want to have scenes focused on someone in the bathroom.

On The Fence

Wishing We Got More From Tallie

Tallie is Rickey’s love interest, who he meets at the beginning of the movie, and she reappears later on. Now, one could argue that when it comes to women in the movie, they are very supportive and forgiving, and that is wonderful to see. However, at the same time, they aren’t developed well as individuals.

With Rosie, we see her working from home, but what does she do? It seems to be marketing, but that isn’t confirmed. Also, while it is made clear lack of fathers plays a role in Rickey and Glenn’s life, what is her family dynamic and does she have any issues making her worried about having a kid? That isn’t touched upon.

The same goes for Tallie, but what Rosie has that Tallie doesn’t is that sense that the character is giving what you need to know. Rosie, in checking in with Glenn throughout the movie, having her own off-camera life, simply feels like a person who isn’t always with the camera documenting their life. Tallie? It can feel like, with there being a year gap between when Rickey meets her and returns to her life and her rejoining the film in the latter half of the movie, you aren’t given the details you need about her.

Yes, she has a job, home, and responsibilities. But who is she beyond Rickey’s love interest? There isn’t the level of development or push that could make it so, even if they didn’t go beyond what Rosie was given, at least you could be satisfied.

Background Information

Film Length	1 Hour 24 Minutes
Date Released	June 8, 2024
Distributor	Film Festival – Tribeca Festival
Director(s)	Michael Angarano
Writer(s)	Michael Angarano, Christopher Nicholas Smith
Based On Work By	N/A
Genre(s)	Comedy, Drama, Young Adult
Content Rating	Not Rated
Content Information
Dialog	Cursing
Violence	N/A
Sexual Content	N/A
Miscellaneous	Drinking