Ever wondered what the documentary version of The Hangover series would feel like? Well, whether you have or not filmmakers Marcus Rosentrater and Gideon C. Kennedy have decided to answer that question with Limo Ride, an experimental documentary comedy about "the greatest bar story ever told," at least in Mobile, Alabama.
The plot is relatively straightforward--ten service industry friends who have a tradition of partying hard on New Years' Eve and then participating in the Polar Beach dip the following day have a particularly epic adventure that takes a few turns for the worse.
While I want to spare you the specifics of the story (suffice it to say that there's a certain level of boneheadedness and buffoonery that always accompanies huge quantities of drugs and alcohol), what makes the film most intriguing is its structure. Rosentrater and Kennedy first tracked down the ten real-life participants, recorded their fuzzy and contradictory accounts of the night(s), and then used those varying versions of events as voice over narration as they staged a remarkable (and ridiculous) reenactment of the whole thing.
While there are a moments where the events themselves can get a little frustrating, the film seems important because its hand at working-class adventure and excess in a darker and more honest way than an exploitative MTV show ever could. Plus, like The Hangover, there is a suspenseful pacing and anything-could-have-happened feel that keeps you engaged with the kind of hi-jinxes that might otherwise feel a little too gratuitous. - Kyle Petersen
Indie Grits will be screening the film on Friday, April 18 at 7pm at the Tapp's Center.
Trailer: