SXSW 2020 review: TEENAGE BADASS is a witty rock comedy set in the Myspace era

While SXSW was canceled this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, we are running reviews of a number of titles that were scheduled to screen at the festival (with permission from the filmmakers and distributors). 

Opening with a typically sassy Noel Gallagher quote about his brother Liam, it’s clear right from the get-go that Teenage Badass has its RN’R heart in the right place. The feature directing debut by Grant McCord, Teenage Badass is a fun and witty look at being in a struggling rock band in an era where “making it” was still something of a possibility.

Set in 2006 when Myspace ruled the land, the film focuses on teenage drummer Brad (Mcabe Gregg), who spends his days cleaning houses with his single-mother Rae (Julie Ann Emery) while daydreaming of being a rock star. When an opportunity comes up to audition for a local band fronted by the enigmatic Kirk Stylo (Evan Ultra), Brad rushes over and quickly secures the gig in the newly-named Stylo and the Murder Dogs, just ahead of their upcoming TV debut on the local news (something that apparently still happened back in 2006).

Despite their upcoming “big break,” tensions quickly begin to flare up in the band; Kirk is controlling and unstable, and his chaotic nature sets the rest of the band up for several increasingly outlandish incidents as they begin negotiating with a producer (Kevin Corrigan) to record their first record.

Grant McCord has spent years drumming in bands, and Teenage Baddass is chock-full of the sort of in-jokes and ridiculous band banter that should ring true to anyone who has put their time in with a garage band. Evan Ultra is great as the delusional lead singer (“I don’t see hair colour”) and Mcabe Gregg keeps the whole thing together as the idealistic youngest member of the band who simply wants to live out his rock n’ roll dreams without any of the BS.

Rock comedies are a well-worn genre, but McCord does a few things here to make Teenage Badass stand out from the pack. The band sounds like a real band, making the sort of genre-fluid indie rock that lit up the blogosphere back in the early aughts. It lends the film a sense of credibility; you can picture stumbling across Stylo and the Murder Dogs at any festival, which isn’t always true of these sorts of rock comedy bands which usually only exist to serve as a punchline.

McCord also has some fun stylistically; a counter pops up on-screen every time someone refers to the band as “we,” a great running gag that should get a solid laugh from any band member who’s had those sort of drunken “us against the world” conversations with their band, partners, and fans.

Teenage Badass is an endearing late-night rock comedy that will hopefully find its audience once its release plan is set. You can already picture the virtual sea of Kirk Stylo memes that’ll come out of this.