NATIONAL ANTHEM - Mark Reviews Movies

National Anthem, LD Entertainment

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 11, 2024

National Anthem revolves around a young man who isn't sure who he is and can only dream of finding out what he wants. His name is Dylan, and he's played by Charlie Plummer, a young actor who has shown quite the skill at portraying surprising depth in relative quiet and stillness. That describes his performance in this movie, too, as a 21-year-old freelance construction worker whose life is filled with so much responsibility and so many routines that even a couple days of freedom feel like the beginning of a new life for him.

That freedom comes, ironically, from a job he takes. When he isn't at home tending to his younger brother, Dylan hangs out outside a local hardware store, somewhere in New Mexico, with other day laborers, waiting for people with odd jobs that need doing for cash. This work is important for him and his family. His mother Fiona (Robyn Lively) works at a hair salon, where the money is steady enough, but the three need more than just that.

For him, Dylan's work makes enough to help cover the bills with some left over for his dream. It's a simple one: to save enough cash to buy an RV so that he can travel the country. The young man's a loner and a wanderer at heart, perhaps, and there's something quite sad about his circumstances at that moment in regards to those qualities.

He has the loner part down pat, since all of his time is devoted to working and caring for Cassidy (Joey DeLeon), the brother who has unspecified special needs. After becoming part of a community of outsiders who have found a home and a makeshift family on a ranch, Dylan admits that he doesn't have any friends at the moment. Indeed, he seems the type who might not have ever had many or any friends of note over the course of his life thus far.

As for his status as a wanderer, that, too, has been limited by the circumstances of his life. It's just an ambition here, stymied less by the money and more by his mother's inconsistent attempts at sobriety and, because of that, the attention Cassidy requires. There's a whole other side to Dylan's life, involving the family and how he plans to reckon with leaving his mother and brother behind when he finally does buy that RV, that's mostly ignored by David Largman Murray's screenplay.

That might be partially why this movie, which certainly makes us feel good about a decent guy like Dylan figuring out some important things about himself and what he wants from life, ultimately feels a bit too shallow in its characters and intentions. It's a pleasant story, despite the core of it amounting to a love triangle filled with unrequited love and jealousy, but it stops short of actually examining Dylan, the conundrum of his familial responsibilities and his desire to live his own life, and what a few days of autonomy and exploration of his sexuality and identity actually mean for who he is and who he wants to be.

Plummer's performance does provide a lot, though, especially in the silences, as well as the subtle revelations that there's more to the world and human experience than his little slice of living. He takes a job from Pepe (Rene Rosado), who needs some work done on his ranch. Soon enough, Dylan discovers the ranch is a sort of haven for gay men, trans women, drag performers, and others who might not feel at home anywhere else in this part of the country.

They spend their days there riding horses and gardening and sharing meals together, and on special occasions, the group participates in a rodeo and dances to country music all through the night. A close-up of Plummer's face, juxtaposed with vignettes from around the rodeo, breaking into a smile tells us everything we need to know. He has found people he understands and who understand him—a possibility he never considered, as he tells ranch inhabitant Carrie (Mason Alexander Park), until arriving there.

Director Luke Gillford revels in the sights of unity and freedom with the same care he lends to the landscapes of New Mexico, where Dylan spends time alone, playing his guitar and fantasizing about one of the ranch's residents, and, later, with a number of people who have welcomed him as part of the group. The person of his fantasy is Sky (Eve Lindley), a skilled horse rider and trans woman who's currently in a relationship with Pepe. It's of the open variety, so Dylan is happy to enter into the mix, even if Sky's affection for the young man starts to bother Pepe.

This isn't really a story about that drama and potential conflict, though, which makes one wonder why the filmmakers expend so much time and effort on it. First and foremost, this is Dylan's tale, as he discovers seemingly instinctual things about himself, forgoes his work and family in order to live in them for some time, and eventually learns a few lessons that are plainly stated for him by other characters. National Anthem almost feels obligated to make these points, because so much of its story is about living in the moment, but once those moments pass, we're left with a protagonist whose discoveries don't seem to have amounted to much.

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