If I had a nickel for every 2026 road trip comedy starring Mason Thames in which the title is a synonym for a group of stupid people, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. While Nimrods was more of a Green Day vanity project, Idiots feels more like a tried-and-true road trip comedy, bunching a random selection of actors and letting their charisma drive the narrative. While the film may not have succeeded much in the comedy realm, they could have not gotten further with the randomness.

The film follows Mark and Davis, played by Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr., two down-on-their-luck drivers tasked with taking a troubled but wealthy teenager, Sheridan(Thames), to a rehab clinic. What seems like a simple job takes many unexpected turns as Sheridan makes it his goal to make the drive as painful and dangerous as possible, leaving Mark and Davis to question what they want to do with their lives.

Road trip comedies are far from a rare subgenre, making it extremely difficult to come up with new ideas. In that regard, Idiots excels in every way. Although there is a clear-cut destination, the film is littered with shocking imagery and plot shifts that keep it from becoming stale. From graphic bathroom sequences to bizarre character reveals, writer/director Macon Blair keeps the audience on their toes from scene to scene.

Much like his last film, The Toxic Avenger, Idiots has an extremely dark yet playful sense of humor that mostly works. Witnessing Mark and Davis slowly break down throughout the film as they struggle to complete their task makes for many humorous moments, especially during moments in the car when they loudly belt out their emotions for all to hear. Dave Franco particularly stands out by fully committing to his character’s stupidity, overdramatizing his dialogue in ways that make for an entertaining experience from start to finish. This makes his character’s arc in the end all the more satisfying as he learns the power of decision making. The dialogue may not be the funniest we’ve ever seen, but the way the actors delivered their lines made them more than hilarious.

Sheridan is deliberately written as a horrible teenager who never makes good decisions. While this made for an excellent antagonist in the film, Blair wrote the character as far too evil. The second act, in particular, revealed elements of Sheridan’s internal racism and sexism that made him completely irredeemable. In a movie focused on getting him help, making him such an awful character made it impossible to care about the plot. Sheridan is also a thinly written character, and the movie never delves into why he is as evil as he is, which made what was already an unlikable character even more frustrating to watch. While the cast surrounding him had their moments of charm, there was no element of Sheridan that was compelling.

Despite its unpredictable moments, the film follows a fairly basic structure: the characters move from place to place, trying to reach the rehab clinic, but they run into obstacles at each stop. While this structure works overall, the film spends too long at each destination. Segments at a hotel and a house feel dragged out, as the film focuses more on characters delivering funny dialogue than on pushing the plot forward. Movies with a 90-minute runtime rarely feel slow, but this is one of the rare cases that does.

Idiots isn’t just a series of shocking sequences; it explores what it means to be a good person and what it takes to be the best version of yourself. While these ideas are interesting on paper, the movie fails to make them compelling. As the title suggests, the protagonists constantly make terrible, selfish decisions, which makes it hard to root for them. You almost want Mark and David to go to some kind of rehab before Sheridan does, which is not what you want from characters who are meant to be mentors. The ending tries to tie these ideas up, but none of it feels earned because of the character writing. There is a good message hidden in the rubble of this movie somewhere, but Macon Blair can’t seem to put the pieces together.

Moments of randomness and charismatic performances create some entertainment, but in terms of its ideas and overall takeaways, Idiots struggles to latch onto anything compelling. With easily one of the worst antagonists depicted on screen this year and some baffling screenwriting decisions, this didn’t land nearly as much as it should’ve. I wish I never got the two nickels.

Idiots is now playing in select theaters nationwide.

Rating: 5/10

Oscar Prospects:

None.