Review: Niels Mueller’s Small Town Wisconsin shows it’s never too late to get your shit together

There have been countless films in recent years that are essentially about Peter Pan syndrome — men hovering near middle-age (or much younger in most Judd Apatow films) who still act like they’re in their teens. It can often be played for laughs, but there’s a slippery slope from being the life of the party to the depressed angry drunk in the corner who no one wants to deal with. That space in between both extremes is the focus of Niels Mueller’s Small Town Wisconsin, a sweet and heartbreaking film about an alcoholic father trying to get his act together.

David Sullivan stars as Wayne, a man who truly lives for the weekend. A full-on drunk, Wayne lives in a filthy trailer in a small town in Wisconsin, and shares custody of his 9-year-old son Tyler (Cooper J. Friedman) with his ex-wife Deidra (Tanya Fischer) and her new husband. His true love is for baseball and the Milwaukee Brewers team, a passion he shares with Tyler on their weekends together.

After nearly burning down his trailer with Tyler over, Deidra finally has enough — she brings Wayne to court and secures sole custody of their son. Their plan is to move to Phoenix, where her new husband has a solid job offer. Distraught at the thought of losing Tyler, Wayne comes up with a way to have one last memorable weekend with Tyler. He sells off his baseball card collection (seemingly his only valuable possession) and arranges a trip to Milwaukee to see a Brewers game with Tyler. Telling Deidra that he’s taking Tyler “camping,” Deidra agrees to the trip with one condition — they have to take Wayne’s best friend Chuck (Bill Heck) along as a “chaperone.”

The latter half of the film turns into a road trip movie with the unlikely trio making their way to the big city for one last hurrah. Wayne’s hot-headedness and general unreliability mean their trip doesn’t go exactly as planned, which leads to some great comedic moments and heartfelt realizations. Wayne finally understands that he has to give up drinking, both for his own good and for his relationship with Tyler. It may come a little too conveniently, but it doesn’t make Wayne’s attempt any less emotional, especially since he has already lost custody of his son.

Mueller expertly straddles the line between the film’s comic and dramatic beats, ensuring that Wayne’s partying never looks too fun and that his character arc is never too pat. Sullivan delivers an incredibly nuanced and emotional performance that makes you care about Wayne’s story even as you grit your teeth over his next lunkheaded move. Jason Naczek’s screenplay allows for some nuance in the characters — they undergo quite a change over the course of a weekend trip, but their arcs feel earned, even if some of the road trip contrivances will be overly familiar to anyone who’s seen Ferris Bueler’s Day Off, or even last year’s Onward.

Small Town Wisconsin was produced by Alexander Payne, and in many ways feels like a spiritual successor to his 2013 film Nebraska, another road trip movie about a difficult relationship between a father and his son. Small Town Wisconsin may follow in the footsteps of many other male bonding road trip films, but with great performances across the board and a sweet emotional underbelly, it’s hard not to fall under its spell. While most of us are still confined within our homes, a rousing movie about working on yourself and connecting with your family while out on the open road is about as reassuring as it gets these days.

Small Town Wisconsin screened at the Rising Sun Film Festival. Follow the film’s Facebook page to keep up-to-date on future screenings.