Crowd-pleasing ‘Tow’ will carry you away
I’m certain I’m not alone in saying our broken-down world could really use a “Tow.” But last time I checked, being locked out of a rigged economy is beyond Triple-A’s purview. No, that requires a fearless advocate like Amanda Ogle, the Seattle veterinary technician who scored one for the little guy when she dared go mano a mano with an unwieldy corporate bureaucracy holding her rusted1991 Toyota Camry ransom for $21,000.
As if Amanda required any further bona fides, she maneuvered through a maze of legal roadblocks while spending the 369-day separation from her car homeless and jobless. Well, she did have a gig but lost it almost as soon as she got it because, upon leaving her successful interview at a Seattle pet shop, the Camry had vanished. Not only did the thieves make off with her home, but they also cost her a vocation that hinged on her owning a car. Talk about a Catch-22.
Lucky for Amanda, the cops recovered the Camry mere hours later, still in one piece. But for her to regain possession, she must fork over $273 that she doesn’t have to the impounder. Rightfully, she is aghast that the onus falls on her when she did nothing wrong. And how can we not share in her frustration? You can’t, and that’s how “Tow” hooks you and hauls you off on a Kafkaesque journey that effectively earns sympathy for people like Amanda.
I say “people like” because “people like you” is a pejorative phrase often used by the “normal” folks Amanda encounters. It pisses her off, as it does you, which is exactly the emotion director Stephanie Laing seeks to elicit in exposing us “normies” to just how ignorant we can be when stereotyping the Amandas of the world. They are not lazy, nor are they unmotivated. Life has simply handed them a raw deal, intensified by the world’s worst luck.
Helping Laing and her writers, Jonathan Keasey and Brant Boivin, immeasurably in arguing their case is a bleached-blonde Rose Byrne, once again going all in on a role that’s every bit as edgy and empathetic as her Oscar-nominated turn in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” As Amanda, Byrne is a force of nature, convincingly fleshing out a real-life person who refused to succumb to a corporate bully.
Yes, “Tow” has been extremely Hollywoodized, complete with all the usual David v. Goliath accouterments, including cathartic courtroom scenes, an estranged teenage daughter (Elsie Fisher) and a plethora of mansplaining males in need of comeuppance. Chief among them is Corbin Bernsen’s slick corporate solicitor Martin LaRosa, a not-too-distant cousin of the actor’s one-time alter ego, the unctuous Arnie Becker on “L.A. Law.”
He chews the scenery in his few scenes, mostly opposite his overmatched adversary, Kevin Eggers, the idealistic legal eagle who bicycles to Amanda’s aid. He’s portrayed by Dominic Sessa, every bit as charming here as he was opposite Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers.”
Why Kevin is so eager to represent Amanda pro bono is a bit of a mystery, and representative of an occasionally misfiring script that’s short on developing a host of supporting characters, winningly played by the likes of Octavia Spencer as the strict mother goose running the shelter Amanda temporarily calls home, to Demi Lovato and Spencer’s fellow Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose as Amanda’s equally struggling bunkmates. There’s also an inkling of a potential romance between Amanda and her Camry’s jailer (Simon Rex), a tow-lot attendant who really wants to help but insists that he can’t because he, too, might end up out of work.
Like a lot of Americans, Rex’s Cliff is living paycheck to paycheck, toiling away at a thankless job that he probably hates but literally can’t afford to lose because there are no alternatives. For the grace of Amanda, he sees himself, one misstep away from joining her on the streets.
I’m sure he’s not alone in his fears in this frightening era of increasing prices and decreasing salaries. But rarely do you see this epidemic depicted so vividly and with so much feeling, as you do here. You take vicarious pleasure in every second of Amanda’s determination to stick it to the upper one percent. It’s just one victory, but it’s a start, with Amanda providing a blueprint on how to fight back.
My only complaint, besides the wispily drawn supporting characters, is that the second half of the movie feels rushed and ham-handedly edited, with characters and incidents lacking sufficient context or explanation. Not Byrne, though. In her capable hands, Amanda comes fully to life through a performance that not only puts a face on homelessness but also illustrates how easy it is for a smart, savvy woman to slip through the cracks.
You admire Amanda’s strength as much as you do her resolve. But you respect her chutzpah even more. She’s simply not taking “no” for an answer, even when up against a jerryrigged justice system in which the scales tilt in favor of the rich and powerful. And isn’t it comforting to know there are “people like” Amanda out there, sacrificing everything to stop these wreckers from towing away whatever remains of our dwindling livelihoods.
Movie review
Tow
Rated: R for language, some sexual references
Cast: Rose Byrne, Octavia Spencer, Dominic Sessa, Ariana DeBose, Demi Lovato, Simon Rex, Corbin Bernsen and Elsie Fisher
Director: Stephanie Laing
Writers: Jonathan Keasey and Brant Boivin
Runtime: 105 minutes
Where: In theaters March 20 (limited)
Grade: B
