Sacramento Parent Guide
This story features unlikable, immature men and the women who are saddled with them. Avoid it at all costs.
Parent Movie Review
Do you want to shill out hard-earned cash to listen to an annoying man-child lie, make excuses, and try to manipulate others? Do you want to spend an hour and a half of your life watching capable women cater to male insecurities and act as substitute mothers and therapists for their male partners? Do you want to watch a tedious tale wind its way through poor dialogue and unrealistic encounters? If so, Sacramento is right up your alley. But if any of this makes you cringe, you will hate this movie as much as I did. Run, don’t walk, out of the theater.
Sacramento is the story of two lifelong friends whose connection has faded over the years. Rickey (Michael Angarano) is a habitual screw-up who has just been thrown out of his therapy group and told to build a life. His childhood bestie, Glenn (Michael Cera), is neurotic, riddled with anxiety, and falling apart as he faces an impending lay-off and the upcoming birth of his first child. Glenn is irritated by Rickey and has been trying to “phase him out” but when Rickey climbs a tree in his L.A. backyard and cajoles him into a road trip to Sacramento, Glenn reluctantly agrees. Desperate for some quiet time that doesn’t involve managing her husband’s manifold psychological issues, pregnant Rosie (Kristen Stewart) urges Glenn to go. But as Glenn and Rickey head down the open road, it soon becomes apparent that Rickey hasn’t told the whole truth…
Sacramento is an awful film to watch. In fact, my notes scribbled in the dark theater are repeatedly interrupted by massive scribbles and the note “I hate this movie.” The dialogue is clunky, the characters immature and unlikable, and the events wildly unrealistic. I honestly can’t imagine any woman who would voluntarily spend time with either of these guys, so having a pair of beautiful women pick them up at a bar is in the realm of fantasy. Seriously. The only place this would happen is in the fevered imagination of a screenwriter.
Whoever produced this script is also responsible for the negative content, which is heavy on profanity, averaging one curse word every two minutes, with over forty sexual expletives in the script. There are also scenes of alcohol consumption and a particularly disturbing episode when an emotionally overwrought man abducts a baby. The story gives both men redemptive character arcs and shows them growing up, but they remain annoying.
In the film’s best line, Rickey describes life as a “hellscape of unpredictability.” When it comes to the movie, I would simply describe it as a hellscape of mediocrity. Or tedium. Take your pick. Just don’t buy a ticket.
Directed by Michael Angarano. Starring Michael Cera, Michael Angarano, Kristen Stewart, Maya Erskine. Running time: 89 minutes. Theatrical release April 11, 2025. Updated April 12, 2025
Watch the trailer for Sacramento
Sacramento
Rating & Content Info
Why is Sacramento rated R? Sacramento is rated R by the MPAA for language
Violence: Two men have a friendly boxing match. Two men have a fight that involves hitting and grabbing. A mentally disturbed man abducts a baby. An anxious man destroys a crib.
Sexual Content: A woman invites a man into her bedroom but he says he doesn’t want to have sex.
Profanity: The script contains over forty profanities, including two dozen sexual expletives, ten scatological curses, and a smattering of terms of deity, minor profanities, and crude anatomical terms. A person makes a sexual hand gesture.
Alcohol / Drug Use: Adults drink alcohol in social situations. A main character is so drunk he falls asleep on the floor.
Page last updated April 12, 2025
Home Video
Related home video titles:
In A Real Pain, a man and his awkward cousin take a tour of Poland to see where their grandmother grew up and to learn more about the Holocaust.
For a better road trip movie, you can try Green Book, which sees a white bouncer working as a chauffeur for a Black pianist touring the Deep South in the Jim Crow era.