Drunk Bus has a lot going for it. It was originally slated to premier at SXSW almost a year to the day, around the same time that all of human civilization was grinding to a halt. It makes it an oddly satisfying movie to see reappear a year later at CineJoy. The premise is that a cis white boy named Michael (played by Charlie Tahan) has spent the last 8+ years in a relationship of convenience when his girlfriend Amy (Sarah Mezzanotte) decides she wants to move to NYC. Michael spends the next year kind of spinning his wheels as the night bus operator of his former community college, stuck in a metaphorical time loop, masturbating to photos of his ex, letting students and his boss step all over him. In walks in Pineapple (played by the excellent Pineapple Tangaroa), the security guard assigned to him after an incident on the bus, who breathes life and wisdom and adventure into Michaels’ humdrum life.
I know that there are going to be some heartless critics who look at this and see a Magical Samoan trope, but I will argue in favor of this movie’s ability to paint Pineapple as a fully imagined character in the same vein as John Candy’s character from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles or maybe even Lakeith Stanfield’s character from Atalnta. Pineapple is a little mysterious, larger-than-life, and yet what really sets him apart from Michael is his self-confidence. The movie isn’t quite an opposite attract buddy comedy, because Michael doesn’t really contribute anything to Pineapple’s experience. Pineapple might be enjoying some vicarious excitement about seeing a young, insular fledgling (opihi?) start to push the bounds of his confines. At one point, when he’s asked if he’s going to stay on the bus or get off, he says, “I want to see where this goes,” which is really the best explanation we have for why he’s so keen on the reforming of Michael.
Yes, the movie spends probably too much time on the male fantasy fulfillment of watching college girls kiss and the movie is ultimately about the acquisition of women for sexual pleasure. But. But there are these thin moments that seem to give the women in this movie moments of dignity wrapped in comedy (“What are you doing?” “Pretending to kiss you. I think they’re rooting for us,” or “You’re an asshole,” or “Say my name!”). Kara Hayward (star of Moonrise Kingdom) and Sydney Fara (Blue Bloods) have some excellent comic moments. Mezzanotte isn’t given as much to work with and she definitely gets shafted in terms of motives: almost universally she’s described as emotionally manipulative for refusing to have sex before marriage, choosing to leave the small town where she went to community college, and for wanting to rekindle a relationship when she returns, all very innocent and reasonable preferences. Thus is the role of the seductress and ex in 2020, apparently. As a fan of Scott Pilgrim, I’m aware of the ways in which exes can be played for laughs without being shamed for withholding sexual favors.
Ultimately, Drunk Bus is a humble comedy with a thrilling conceit: diverse casting. And if there are elements of it that still feel a little retrograde, at least we’re watching BIPOC and LGBTQ folks participate in some of those problematic tropes from within the movie.
