‘Never Goin’ Back’ Movie Review: Friendship Means Crude Shenanigans In The Hot Texas Summer

Never Goin’ Back is basically about testing the limit to see how long it is possible to wait to have a very necessary bowel movement. It’s also a cautionary tale about what can happen when people who are not quite mature enough to look after themselves are living on their own. But the hook to draw you in is friendship, and amidst all the messiness and antagonism in this world, that is something that cannot be undervalued.

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Angela (Maia Morrone) and Jessie (Camila Morrone) are best friends getting by working at a low-rent diner in Texas. They while away most of their free time goofing off and getting high, and if they can just make it through the week, they will reward themselves with a beach trip, even if it is just a joke of a beach in Galveston. But when a misunderstanding leads to the cops showing up at their place and them getting arrested for drug possession, everything threatens to go off the rails. They get bailed out of jail soon enough, but since Jessie wasn’t able to use the toilet in her cell, she has a mess stuck in her gut that wants to get out but isn’t quite sure how to. All they want to do at this point is take a shower, wash their clothes, and beg for their jobs back, but the entire universe seems to be conspiring against them.

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These two gals live in a cheap house that they rent along with Jessie’s brother and his friend, which seems like an odd arrangement, considering that they are only supposed to be 17. They don’t appear to be going to school, although part of that is it due to being summer, but it does seem like they are trying to get by living on their own. And although their can-do spirit is admirable, they are really not yet equipped to be living independently. That might be an unexpectedly serious conclusion to draw from a movie that is ostensibly about two friends getting into a mix of mundane and over-the-top escapades, but I care about these girls. The bad things that happen to them are not entirely their fault, and I just want to see them put themselves in situations where they are not so vulnerable. At least there is kind of a happy ending. They do get away with some illegal behavior, but their karmic ledger appears to be in decent shape.

Starring: Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone, Kyle Mooney, Joel Allen, Kendal Smith, Matthew Holcomb

Director: Augustine Frizzell

Running Time: 85 Minutes

Rating: R for Constantly Crude Language, Offbeat Sexual Content, and Drug-Fueled Escapades

Release Date: August 3, 2018 (Limited)