Green Day Made a Punk Road Comedy — And Forgot the DIY Spirit Along the Way

The funniest moment in the movie isn't one of its scripted jokes — it's the split second when the trio thinks their dream is dead and they're heading back to Kansas City with their tails between their legs, and the opening riff of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" comes crashing in out of nowhere, like a laugh track that's confessing to its own crime early. Stereogum critic Tom Breihan admits this probably wasn't the joke the filmmakers intended, but it's the only moment in the entire movie that actually made him laugh.

"Nimrods" marks Green Day's first foray into feature filmmaking, opening in U.S. theaters August 14 with Live Nation on board as a producer. Directed by Lee Kirk, who co-wrote the script alongside members of the band, the story follows a three-piece punk band from Kansas City called Analog Dogs. Frontman Tommy is played by Mason Thames of "The Black Phone" and the live-action "How to Train Your Dragon," with former "The Office" star Jenna Fischer playing his mother. Bassist Fred is an idiot best friend played by Kylr Coffman, while drummer Chad (Ryan Foust) is a mama's boy who's constantly being pushed by his bandmates to "be more punk."

The plot hinges on a prank call: a jerk friend of Tommy's brother Wayne (played by Keen Ruffalo, son of Mark Ruffalo) impersonates drummer Tre Cool and invites the band to open for Green Day's New Year's Eve show at the Hollywood Palladium. Without a second thought, the trio steal Wayne's car and hit the road — car theft happens more than once in this movie — running into a parade of oddballs played by Fred Armisen along the way, careening through car chases, brawls, mushroom trips, and freeloading, all in pursuit of a gig invitation that was never actually confirmed.

Breihan's core complaint isn't that the jokes fall flat — it's that the movie gets punk fundamentally backwards. The characters namedrop Dee Dee Ramone and plaster their walls with posters of Rancid, The Misfits, and My Chemical Romance, yet the film never once mentions underground touring, subcultural scenes, or anything resembling the actual DIY circuit. The characters' ultimate goal is simply to get close to Green Day, to be seen by Green Day, to bask in Green Day's glow — not to hustle and build their own gigs the way a real punk band would have to. Green Day themselves famously toured the country in a converted ice cream truck back in their broke early days, and that truck even makes a cameo in the film — but the movie never turns that history into anything resembling meaningful storytelling.

This isn't Billie Joe Armstrong's first rodeo with film either. A decade ago he starred in "Ordinary World," also directed by Lee Kirk and also featuring Fred Armisen, which came and went with little fanfare — most people probably haven't even heard of it. Now he's reunited with the same director and much of the same crew for round two, except this time he's brought the entire band along as producers.

Breihan's verdict is blunt: "Nimrods" plays like a movie made for Green Day's own inner circle and collaborators — a vanity project, a self-flattering vehicle — rather than something that actually understands its fans or the spirit of punk. No release information has been announced for Taiwan.