Bob Trevino Likes It Film Review
The Odd Couple
Summary: This wholesome dramedy is about two unlikely friends who become family. It asks will the real Bob Trevino please stand up?
4.25
The Odd Couple
This wholesome dramedy is about two unlikely friends who become family. It asks will the real Bob Trevino please stand up?
“Bob Trevino Likes It” isn’t about the families we have but those ones we choose. This dramedy looks at two unlikely friends who develop a deep bond. The result is quite an emotional and sensitive look at how love and kindness can prevail, a message we need to hear in this current climate.
This is the debut feature from Tracie Laymon and it won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW. It stars off with an odd premise: a 50+ year old man and a 25-year-old woman meet online and become friends. It may require a suspension of disbelief but in reality, this is actually inspired by Laymon’s own life events.
Barbie Ferreira (“Euphoria”) stars as the trauma-ridden, people-pleasing fat girl, Lily Trevino. She is overly accommodating with everyone, especially those people who don’t deserve it. In the opening scene a boyfriend blatantly cheats and she just lets him walk over her.
But it is the toxic dynamic that Lily has with her father, Bob (French Stewart “3rd Rock from The Sun”) that is most annoying. Bob is an absolutely tone-deaf villain. An utterly self-absorbed man, he plays the victim at every opportunity he can and simply uses Lily. After a minor spat, he decides to cut off his only daughter (never mind that Lily had already been abandoned by her drug addicted mum when she was just a kid).
Lily to her credit goes online to find her father and discovers a man who shares his name. The eponymous Bob Trevino (played by John Leguizamo who played Tybalt in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo & Juliet”) is the antithesis of Lily’s Dad. He’s kind, stable, gentle, dependable, and the perfect friend and confidante.
The film looks at their blossoming friendship. They exchange secrets and bond. It’s completely platonic but also very sweet to see such a tender bond unfold. It’s clearly a friendship they both need for different reasons. The performances in this film elevate the proceedings. These make it sentimental without being schmaltzy. The two leads have an excellent chemistry which makes the film feel like it’s an authentic story.
Laymon’s screenplay includes two other main supporting characters but they are a tad underdone. Rachel Bay Jones plays Travino’s scrapbooking wife who buries herself in this pastime in order to avoid facing some difficult feelings. Bob himself for all his charm is not perfect; he preoccupies himself with work as another avoidance strategy. Lily meanwhile negotiates her own demons and is employed as a live-in-carer for another young lady, Daphne (Lauren ‘Lolo’ Spencer). The girls seem friendly enough but this feels more like acquaintances than the real deal.
“Bob Trevino Likes It” is lighter than it sounds, and will warm your heart and soul, as it oozes with charm at every step. The two main characters become great amigos and its lovely to seem them come together and negotiate different emotions. This is like chicken soup for the soul but be warned, you might cry in your serve.
About the Author
Natalie Salvo Natalie is a Sydney-based writer and lover of all things music, food, photography comedy, art, theatre. You can find her digging in crates at good record stores.
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