Tow, 2026.
Directed by Stephanie Laing.
Starring Rose Byrne, Dominic Sessa, Demi Lovato, Ariana DeBose, Simon Rex, Octavia Spencer, Corbin Bernsen, Katie Lee Hill, Joseph Lyle, Taylor Ura, Yoana Sánchez, Elsie Fisher, Lea DeLaria, Bree Elrod, Becky Ann Baker, Nola Charbonnet, Tom Johnson, Bill Winkler, Bonnie Rose, Carol Hickey, Blair Lewin, Ava Monroe Tadross, Liz Weinstein, Drae Campbell, Chad Burris, and Dierdre Friel.
SYNOPSIS:
The true story of Amanda Ogle (Byrne), a homeless Seattle woman who fought her way out of tow-company hell to reclaim her life and car after receiving a tow bill for $21,634.
Almost halfway into director Stephanie Laing’s absurdist, loosely inspired true story Tow, about homelessness, a towed 1991 Toyota Camry, and a legal system designed to oppress and suppress those on the lower rung of the financial ladder, Rose Byrne’s Seattle-based, down-on-her-luck, vet-experienced but jobless Amanda Ogle, is practically cleared to reclaim her car free of charge from the lot it is being held in (with Simon Rex playing the man at the front desk with a combination of nuanced empathy but rigidness for the rules).
It would have also meant the film could start addressing the real issue in that whether or not Amanda get the car back, she is delusional, somewhat self-destructive, and using this stretched-out incident as a deflection to confronting her personal vices, the reality that she is homeless, and her estrangement from aspiring cosplayer teenage daughter Avery (Elsie Fisher) living with her father elsewhere. Instead, screenwriters Jonathan Keasey and Brant Boivin are only interested in the process of getting the car back, which is depicted here as taking an outrageously long time that further derails Amanda’s life and personal relationships, while also humbling her and leading her to accept her current condition and adopt the virtue of patience.
At a certain point, Tow, which admittedly has Rose Byrne giving it her all in another manic and boisterous performance as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown (although I’m not sure I’m fully convinced by her homeless appearance or that look for Demi Lovato and others here for that matter), falls into languid repetition of jumping ahead days and days (with larger gaps for each interval) working together with an upstart pro bono lawyer named Kevin (Dominic Sessa) to fight the towing company and the loopholes in the law thrown against them in what comes across as a never ending legal battle that doesn’t contain much weight, urgency, or emotional heft. To give one an idea of how long a period this story encapsulates, there are amusing, adorable cuts to dogs posing for holiday-themed pictures to clue viewers in, in addition to listing the number of days that have passed.
Everyone involved here evidently means well, and there is cinematic nobility in shining a light on the indignities people such as Amanda face. However, the execution comes with a lighthearted Hollywood sheen of sanitized homelessness, in which the obstacles faced in repossessing the car more closely resemble a series of narrative contrivances meant to extend the running time. That writing rarely feels organic, mostly depending on Rose Byrne to elevate the story through her performance, which contains mixed results at best, considering there is only a half-commitment at most to interrogating her character and what led her to be in this position (not that the latter matters in terms of finding sympathy for her).
During this arduous process, Amanda takes residents in a homeless shelter (in the back of a church) run by Octavia Spencer’s warm Barbara (it says a lot about who she is as a person and actor that the second she appears on screen, we know someone is going to provide some help and stability unless it is taken for granted and torpedoed), interacting with a host of characters homeless for a variety of reasons (and distractingly played by familiar, attractive faces), all of whom are given the same glossy treatment for their realities without crystallizing into fully fleshed out characters.
Too much of Tow frustratingly comes down to playing the same waiting game as Amanda, which doesn’t help the film cinematically or its characters. Even if there are realistic concerns at play here, the filmmakers are also dead set on steering clear of anything that could upset audiences too much, taking a path that will inevitably lead to a crowd-pleasing happy ending. Some creative choices here do complement and benefit that direction, but the film still lacks as a whole. Despite those good intentions, it’s difficult to shake the feeling that this is frothy Hollywood homelessness cosplay. Elsie Fisher’s character does better cosplay here.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
