Back in the day when I would think about making my own movie, I had very specific choices for the music I would want to be a part of it. Unfortunately, that’s an EXPENSIVE proposition as the songs build up. Nimrods found the cheat code for this problem: just build a movie with the band involved in some way. Bam! All licensing fees are waived, and you’ve got an electric soundtrack backdropping your movie. So what is Green Day’s essence?
It’s in the spirit of Kansas City’s Analog Dogs, Tommy (Mason Thames), Fred (Kylr Coffman), and Chad (Ryan Foust). Punk rock to the core (well, maybe not tightly wound Chad), the boys record an old school demo and give it to Billie Joe, Tre Cool, and Mike Dirnt of Green Day when they’re in town. Tommy’s older brother Keith (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) convinces Tommy Green Day called his phone and wants to open for them as a prank. But this is no prank for Tommy: it’s a call to action to steal his brother’s cab and high tail it to California to make it to the Palladium in LA for Green Day’s New Year’s Eve show on time.
Green Day’s essence apparently is the determination and belief in the power of being punk rock. And with that belief in equal measure in wonderful beautiful youthful stupidity. But that’s the joy of being young. Tommy’s not exactly had the best life to date, and needs this fateful interaction to determine his life course, no matter how heinous it all sounds (Tre Cool called his burner phone with no caller ID to open on NYE? Um, ok…). That naivete also means they’ve seen and experienced nothing, so like all movie road trips, the journey is the thing they’ll remember most. The three leads have a fun interplay with Tommy the leader, Fred the stoner, and Chad the voice of reason as they get themselves into hairier and hairier situations. Watching dipshit suburban KC kids not realize that the roadside motel or biker bar is probably not the best place for them to end up at is very funny. The tricky part writer director Lee Kirk pulls off is not making these nimrods too stupid that the audience ends up hating them. The movie flirts with the line a couple times, but Kirk always pulls back with a great concert sequence showing the Analog Dogs talent, or a cameo from a great comedic actor to help Nimrods get itself over the finish line, showing the joys of a road trip like this and not just the facade crushing lows.
And then there’s Green Day holding this thing up. Each Analog Dog is there to represent younger Green Day, using 8 tracks and old recording equipment and video cameras to capture what 1994 was like for the band to 2026 audiences. Maybe the best decision the movie makes outside of Green Day’s involvement is how their songs get utilized. Little unrecorded clips and never released music is used heavily during the road trips, helping the audience get into young Green Day headspace during their probably crazy road trips. And when a big emotional moment has to happen, then you bust out a classic. When September Ends couldn’t be more perfect for a cathartic emotional moment in the film right? And if you don’t think Good Riddance is ending this movie, you’re out of your mind. And hell with it, just make the entire last 20 minutes a Green Day concert with a movie going on around it. Although I didn’t need the George W. Bush monologue that went on for 5 minutes.
Ok that didn’t happen, but American Idiot definitely did! And guess what? Still a banger. Nimrods hopefully helps you find your inner punk rock spirit, whether you be a young teen trying to figure out who you are, or an aging fortysomething enjoying a little return to their youth. I also got to see what Green Day’s manic pixie dream girls look like. Sorry ladies, Nimrods is basically one for the boys.