Drunk Bus is a charming coming-of-age comedy, which understands the uncertainty of second adolescence and that, in order to head in a different direction, sometimes you have to make a wrong turn.

Michael (Charlie Tahan) is a recent graduate whose post-college plan is derailed when his girlfriend leaves him for a job in New York City. Stuck in Ohio without a new plan of his own, the heartbroken Michael finds himself caught in the endless loop of driving the “drunk bus,” the debauched late-night campus shuttle that ferries drunk college students from parties to the dorms and back.

When Michael is bullied by belligerent frat boys, the bus service hires a security guard to watch over the night shift, Michael comes face to tattooed face with Pineapple (Pineapple Tangaroa), a 300-lb punk-rock Samoan who challenges him with a kick in the ass to break from the loop and start living. The disparate pair become fast friends as Pineapple tells Michael that he needs to quit driving in circles, and in an attempt to break the cycle, they make increasingly risky, but exciting, decisions—as Pineapple is a scoundrel, with an appetite for adventure. He is determined to make Michael more fun, and the friendship that they form helps the awkward young driver to discover just how much life has to offer even in small town Ohio.

John Carlucci and Brandon LaGanke   |  U.S.A. |  2020  |  101 mins.