A ride that’s well worth seeking out

Ride the Eagle (M, 89 mins) Directed by Trent O’Donnell Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★

Even in death, Leif Reinhold’s (Jake Johnson) mother has found a way to challenge and confound him. The woman who abandoned him as a 12-year-old to join a cult has succumbed to cancer, without even letting her son know she was sick, and has now left him an inheritance.

Naturally, it comes with conditions attached. If he wants her cabin, he’ll have to complete a series of tasks, details of which are left in a series of sealed envelopes and a video-taped message featuring Honey (Susan Sarandon) herself. ‘‘There are still things I needed to teach you,’’ she writes.

Confiding to his neighbour that he never really knew his mom, the bongo-playing, black labrador-loving Leif is unsure whether this is a trip down memory lane he really wants to take.

‘‘What do you have to lose? A weird week?’’ is the pithy response that sends him on his way.

However, upon arrival at the remote Yosemite cabin, Leif again queries his presence. There are not only eclectic artworks, whips and nunchakus, but also a mother lode of weed hidden in a bizarrely elaborate amount of inbuilt cabinetry.

Then there’s the threatening phone call from an unfamiliar voice. And that’s before he even pops on the video that features his mother exhorting him to express himself, call the one who got away and try to catch a fish with his bare hands.

But, when he’s caught in the act of delivering a rather rude note to a house on the other side of the lake and his beloved dog subsequently disappears, Leif begins to seriously question his sanity in following his sometimes maniacal mother’s orders.

A collaboration between former New Girl star Johnson and that series’ regular director Trent O’Donnell, Ride the Eagle isa surprisingly heartfelt slacker comedy whose charms creep up on you. Leif initially seems like an archetypal mumblecore staple, but eventually his gruff, easygoing ways become a source of much entertainment.

J K Simmons (Whiplash) provides a more than adequate nemesis-cum-foil, but it’s the geographically (and socially) distanced scenes with former beau Audrey (Barry and The Good Place’s D’Arcy Carden) that really shine. Winningly brought to life via a magnificently executed splitscreen approach, the pair reconnect, remonstrate and reminisce via conversations that feel as real as they are hilarious.

Johnson and O’Donnell’s taut script is filled with memorable moments, skilfully navigating a potentially fraught path by ensuring this story of love and loss never feels too glib or too schmaltzy, while also not succumbing to lazy set-pieces or stereotypes.

An understated, unexpected comedic gem well worth seeking out.