Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Peter Bradshaw

Don’t Trip review – lo-fi comedy shocker sets out to find the horror in Hollywood

Amusing premise … Matthew Sato and Will Sennett in Alex Kugelman’s Don’t Trip.
Amusing premise … Matthew Sato and Will Sennett in Alex Kugelman’s Don’t Trip Photograph: no credit

Not a bad idea for a Hollywood satire here – and there’s a cameo for renowned character turn Fred Melamed, whose appearance does however have the effect of exposing how callow everyone else is on screen. Much as I wanted to like this lo-fi production, which cheekily intersperses its modestly budgeted scenes with stock footage establishing shots of the city skyline, the movie kept slipping gears and – scene-by-scene – felt awkward and uncertainly performed, along with some audio issues on the soundtrack.

The setting is Los Angeles, and Dev (Matthew Sato) is a young wannabe screenwriter humiliatingly fired from his job as an executive’s assistant for hawking his script to his employer’s competitors, and his need to break into the biz becomes increasingly desperate. To the dismay of his longsuffering girlfriend Monica (Olivia Rouyre), Dev tries one last roll of the dice: he befriends Trip (Will Sennett), the rich screwup son of film producer Scott Lefkowitz (Melamed) – a big-hitter who is known for his ability to greenlight projects with a single phone call.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.