Idiots
**Seen at the 2026 Atlanta Film Festival
This year, the Atlanta Film Festival decided to switch it up with their Opening Night film. No personal dramas or adaptations this year- just an unhinged dark comedy. That’s going to make people take notice Story writer and producer Alex Orr is a festival alumni, and in this film, he puts together David Franco and O’Shea Jackson for a wild road movie about two people, down on their luck, just trying to get the delinquent son of a wealthy family to rehab. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
The opening scene of writer-director Maxon Blair’s film has us in a meeting with Jackson’s Davis in a meeting with the minister at his church. He’s being scolded for taking the teens on a trip to the movies. It seemed like a good choice, until we find out the title of the movie. Yeah…not so great a choice. He gets fired, and then we meet Mark (Franco). He’s a drug head, and he gets fired from his job, and seems to have crappy luck in general (his attempt to get angry at his boss has some unexpected consequences). Their paths cross when Mark tries to be a driver, getting troubled people to rehab centers as part of their court orders. Mark and Davis’s first collaboration? Get spoiled rich bad boy Sheridan (Mason Thames) to his rehab center with a low profile.
A film like “Idiots” rises and falls with its main cast, and truthfully, I enjoyed all three main characters. The disparity in personality between Davis and Mark brings out some strong work from Jackson and Franco- who kind of seems to be channeling his brother James’s work in “Pineapple Express,” at times- as we come to feel the longer the film goes on more for Davis, and get infinitely more exasperated with Mark. Thames’s Sheridan is a scheming, entitled time bomb to throw in the middle of this pairing, and Thames is great at projecting the character’s thought process, and not necessarily letting on what he’s doing. I wouldn’t say Sheridan is smart, thought; he sometimes doesn’t think things through to their logical end, and his choices- which are hilarious to watch unfold- lead to a bonkers third act that is both cringe-inducing and just bizarre and entertaining. Things do come full circle, and everyone is kind of where they should be. Life isn’t better on the other side of Blair’s film, but it doesn’t feel like any of the characters are in a situation they can’t handle anymore. “Idiots” was fun, so long as you can get on its wavelength.
