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Every summer, music lovers from around the world pack their bags and camp out at their favorite music festivals. Though celebrity gossip magazines tend to show them as glamorous getaways, the outrageous comedy The Festival shows just how messy and uncomfortable and bizarre they can be.
The Festival stars Joe Thomas as Nick, a recent college grad whose entire world collapsed on him when his girlfriend, Caitlin (Hannah Tointon), decided to break up with him on graduation day. After making a scene during the ceremony, Nick took to his room, refusing to leave his bed. But then Nick’s best friend, Shane (Hammed Animashaun), shows up to drag him off to the music festival that they’ve been looking forward to attending. And despite Nick’s objections and general gloominess, Shane is determined to make sure that they both have a good time.
As you might expect, nothing goes as planned for these festival-going friends. They start their adventure by getting kicked off their train, and they end up hiking to the venue with chatty festival regular Amy (Claudia O’Doherty). And once they finally make it, their quest for the perfect campsite causes them to run right into Caitlin and her friends (including the obnoxious new guy who’s caught her eye).
Of course, to add to the general discomfort of camping in a field with thousands of strangers, a quick rain shower makes everything (and everyone) muddy and disgusting. And while the music plays out in the background, Nick and Shane end up encountering lots of weirdoes and kooky festival goers who are inevitably under the influence of all kinds of different substances. And, as if that weren’t strange enough, Shane and Amy also get lost in the woods and stumble upon a bizarre Druid ritual.
This festival adventure is random and haphazard and loaded with cringe-worthy adult situations. And while it does offer some over-the-top humor and some fun comedic cameos, Thomas’s Nick is crabby and miserable enough to take away from the comic energy. And that makes the whole thing awkward and bizarre and not nearly as much fun as it could have been.
If you’ve ever camped out at a music festival, The Festival could very well bring back some wild and crazy memories. But the generally flat characters and their awkward adventures make it a forgettable film.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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