Rosie is seven months pregnant, but it’s Glenn who’s resting on the couch.
He attributes his shaky hands and his collapse to a knee just now to “low blood sugar.” He eats a cracker. And when he’s feeling a little better, he offers to make pasta for dinner. If Rosie wants, he’ll even throw in some butter.
And then, much to Glenn’s dismay, free-spirited Rickey shows up. Sure, they were best friends in college. But now, Glenn finds Rickey too chaotic and uncaring. He’s been trying to phase Rickey out of his life with silence, but Rickey just doesn’t catch on.
So the two go out to lunch. And as they’re on their way back, Rickey says they should spontaneously drive the six hours from Los Angeles to Sacramento. And when Glenn begins to refuse, Rickey admits that his father passed away last month. He’s grieving. And he’d really appreciate the company as he drives to where his father wanted his ashes spread.
Feeling a sense of obligation, Glenn reluctantly agrees. He calls Rosie to let her know.
Rickey rushes to pop the trunk of his car. He pulls out a can of tennis balls. He dumps them out, runs to the side of the road and fills the can with dirt.
“Father’s ashes” acquired.
Sure, perhaps Rickey isn’t telling the truth. But he is grieving. His father did die…some time ago. And he can tell that Glenn is struggling with some things, too—things that keep causing his hands to shake.
And maybe a couple days in some city neither of them has ever visited is just what they need.
The trip eventually forces both Glenn and Rickey to confront issues they’ve kept bottled up for some time. What’s more, they’re issues that both men have kept hidden with seemingly good intentions.
Glenn, for instance, suffers from extreme anxiety brought on by the coming birth of his child. He desperately wants to provide a safe place for his child, but his fears about potential dangers have him in a chokehold. He’s worried about every little thing that could go wrong. His worries cause his pregnant wife stress to the point that she’s stopped telling him about doctor’s visits, because she knows it’ll just make him worry and cause things to get worse. But a few key moments in the film help Glenn to recognize this issue’s significance and to take small steps to rectify it.
Likewise, despite his lie, Rickey does struggle with intense grief and guilt. His father did die, albeit some time ago, and he had been attending a support group for some time. However, through that group, he’s learned quite well how to identify when others are dealing with unresolved issues—and he’d rather help them work through their problems than touch his own. But, like Glenn, the trip to Sacramento forces him to confront both his grief and guilt and to push forward.
The film provides a couple shout outs to single mothers who’ve each resolved to take care of their baby despite the father’s absence. And an absent father chooses to right his wrong and help take care of his child.
Someone adds “amen” after giving a eulogy. A character describes life as “a hellscape of unpredictability.”
Rickey and a woman flirt, trading sexual innuendos and bedroom banter. Later, the woman attempts to get Rickey to have sex with her, but Rickey turns it down. Another woman suggestively lets Rickey know that she’s open to having sex with him, too.
Rickey suntans naked in a chair, though we don’t see anything. We see one woman in a bikini top and others in formfitting spandex shorts. A man and woman kiss.
A men’s emotional support group paradoxically advertises that “all genders” are welcome. When Rickey sees Glenn for the first time in a while, he jokes, “Give me a kiss!
A woman expresses disappointment when Glenn tells her that he plans to remain faithful to his wife. Glenn denies that he and the woman have any “kinetic sexual energy.”
Glenn smacks Rickey a few times in anger. The two fight in a boxing ring, punching and kicking each other, and one of them takes a knee to the crotch. There’s a reference to someone nearly drowning as a child.
We hear the f-word about 25 times, including two instances preceded by “mother.” People use the s-word about 10 times. Words such as “a–,” “d–n,” “d-ck,” b–tard” and “crap” are all heard, too. God’s name is misused eight times. Jesus’ name is likewise taken in vain twice. Someone uses a crude hand gesture.
Glenn and Rickey get drunk while knocking down shots and drinking beer. Glenn later suffers a hangover. Rickey orders champagne.
Someone briefly kidnaps a baby. Rickey lies several times to prolong his hangout time with Glenn. There’s a reference to defecation.
Perhaps one of the toughest lessons to learn is that grief and worry aren’t made better by merely forgetting about them.
We all can conjure up reasons why it’s not the time to deal with these tough issues: We don’t want to be a burden; we don’t want to put that weight on someone else; we think it’ll eventually just pass; we deny those feelings altogether. But nine times out of 10, our hidden anxieties simmer like boiling water in a lid-covered pot. And even if we ignore it, it won’t be long before that bubbling water spills over anyway.
Sacramento showcases two men who learn that truth the hard way. It provides viewers with a look into that difficult catharsis in a film that’s relatively lighthearted given the subject matter it deals with. What’s not as lighthearted, however, is Sacramento’s excessive crude language. (The film’s affinity for f-words is the reason for its R rating.) And some references to sexual content hurt the overall experience, too.
Rickey and Glenn both experience growth and resolution on their spontaneous road trip to Sacramento. But viewers should be mindful of the potholes that make this a bumpier ride than it needed to be.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
