Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Richard Linklater
Writer: Chad Taylor
Based on the documentary
Cast: Brad Pitt, Brie Larson, Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black, Glen Powell, Werner Herzog, Joan Cusack, Holly Hunter, America Ferrera, Eric Edelstein, Tim Blake Nelson, Ron Funches
Plot: 1995, deep in the heart of Texas, Benny (Brad Pitt) paces the halls of house. Lining the walls are framed framed newspapers, prominent with headlines declaring him the winner of the “Hands on a Hardbody” contest. He meanders out to his garage where it sits: his 1993 Nissan Hardbody truck. He slides his hand across its exterior and lets a semi-sexual sigh as his phone rings in the background. On the other end is Dale Hoyt (Matthew McCoughnahey) from Hoyt Nissan. He congratulates Benny on winning one of the vaunted 8 spots in this year’s competition. Benny collapses on the hood in hug-like manner and kisses it multiple times. A voice over from Benny accompanies this visual: "Why a truck? There is nothing more Texan, excuse me, nothing more American than a reliable pick-up truck." A second voice tells him that Nissan is a Japanese company. "The point still stands. Driving your truck down a country road is as American as wearing a cowboy hat. Nothing says freedom like a reliable pick-up truck."
Days later, Hoyt stands in front of a group of individuals in the showroom of Hoyt Nissan. He explains the rules of the contest for those unacquainted. 10 contestants, 1 truck. Contestants must always have a gloved hand on the truck at all times. You must be standing at all times - no squatting, leaning, or sitting. Five minute breaks are given every hour, fifteen minute breaks after every 6 hours. The last contestant stand becomes owner of the truck, free of charge.
Local radio host Bert Michaels (Jack Black) interviews Hoyt and his lead rules judge Anita (Holly Hunter). Anita explains that her and fellow judges will keep a constant watchful eye on the contestants over the course of the competition to ensure they follow the rules. They will also be surprising the final three with a mandatory after rumors of cheating in competitions past.
Bert then interviews the contestant who has arrived the earliest in the morning: Benny. Benny won the competition after 87 hours two years prior but still entered his name in the random draw for this one and was selected. Smiling big underneath his thick mustache, Benny says he is glad to have made it into the competition again as he wants to break the record of 102 hours set by the 1994 winner. He says this like Highlander – there can only be just one. He then says the line equating the truck to America from early on the in the film. He is very confident about his chances, saying the only person to have a chance would be a young stud coming directly from the Marines who is better conditioned for him.
The second contestant to arrive is Greg (Glen Powell), a fit twentysomething who is back home after serving in the Marine Corps. Next is Norma (America Ferrera), a housewife in her thirties who had a vision from God that she would win this truck and this was affirmed by her being selected for the competition. She has a Walkman and headphones with her, along with a dozen gospel music tapes. Paul (Eric Edelstein) says he has entered the competition because he lives two miles from his work and hates having to walk to and from there everyday.
Janis (Joan Cusack) is both one of the most charming and impoverished of the bunch, punctuated by her trademark smile that is missing her two top front teeth. Ronald (Ron Funches) is a good 'ol country boy and is feeling good about his chances after fasting for three days. The seventh contestant, J.D. (Werner Herzog), does not talk to his fellow contestants and does not grant Bert with an interview. The last contestant to arrive is Kelli (Brie Larson), an ambitious young waitress who is determined to win.
Hoyt ensures that every one is touching the truck at 7 a.m. and the contest commences. Everyone quickly gets into their own zone. Bert interviews Janis’s husband Leonard (Tim Blake Nelson), himself missing his front bottom two teeth, who pledges to stay awake as long as his wife does. Meanwhile, his wife starts to bond with Paul as they both recognize Benny and complain that he gets to re-enter the competition after having won once. Two of the younger contestants, Greg and Kelli, also start to grow close. Kelli says to keep it on the down low that she plans to sell the truck when she gets it and use that money to go to nursing school so she can stop waiting tables. Greg, meanwhile, talks about the exhausting experience that the Marine Corps had on his mental state and he views this as an opportunity to prove his drive.
Eleven hours in, some of the contestants seem bothered by the heat while Ronald says he loves the heat but he is afraid of lightning. At the breaks, they each have their own eating strategies. Ronald only eats Snickers bars and oranges. Paul, meanwhile, demolishes some hamburgers from a local fast food restaurant. Greg is fitness-minded and thus only eats vegetables. Meanwhile, J.D. is only seen smoking a cigarette. Ronald asks J.D. if he is uncomfortable wearing boots but doesn’t get a response.
22 hours in. Norma is all into on her gospel music and often breaks into laughing fits, claiming that is how happy she is that God has put her here. While still dark out, a storm starts to rumble in the distance and Hoyt and Anita discuss the radar to see if they are in the clear. Meanwhile, Ronald is growing agitated with mosquitos and hearing the thunder becomes the final straw for him and he is the first one out. Benny looks back to his wife and smiles affirmatively, as if to say one down, six to go. The storm ends up avoiding town, anyways.
Norma starts to randomly hysterically laugh again and Janis whispers to Paul that she thinks she is doing this to annoy the rest of them and tire them down. Kelli and Greg grow closer, both realizing that are lost in a sort of crossroads in their lives. The hand that each has on the truck briefly touches and they share a sly smile. Kelli, being ironically cocky, asks if he wants to go for a ride in her truck after this, which he retorts “you mean my truck, right?”.
In the 42nd hour, Paul’s food habits catch up to him and he vomits all over his section of the truck but maintains his hand on the truck. Anita comes over and tells him that this technically causing damage to the truck and thus they have to remove him from the competition and he has a fit, saying that wasn’t a rule. Janis shakes her head in disapproval that her new friend is now out. She then leaves the competition on her own out of protest, chewing out Anita and Hoyt for their faulty rulings as people like Norma and Benny have been briefly lifting their hands over the course of the competition but the judges have not disqualified them. Benny laughs and points out the flaw in Paul’s habits given the amount of energy it takes to burn the calories of fast food meals. Janis storms towards him, ranting that he should not even be here but Leonard holds her back.
In the 70th hour, nearly three full days have elapsed and five contestants remain in the competition. With more free area, Greg starts walking back and forth along the truck’s edge to keep himself awake. In a brief lapse of concentration, his hand lifts from the truck and Anita informs him that she is out of the competition, to Kelli’s devastation. Greg, seemingly in another mental world, nods his head at Anita and begins to walk away. Anita asks him where he is going and he says home. Anita is concerned as Greg just continuously walks along the dimly lit sidewalks blocks away, in a state of complete exhaustion.
Kelli looks down at her hand and then at the other contestants and decides to quit then and there and chase down Greg. She turns him around from behind, seemingly awakening from his slumber. He smiles but then realizes she is out of the competition and silently points to the dealership but she shrugs her shoulders. She then points to her own truck that she arrived in and tells him the offer is still on the table. They simultaneously remove the gloves from their hands and touch each other’s hands, relishing in the feeling of human contact.
The contest is down to three: Benny, Norma, and J.D. Anita and Hoyt are interviewed again by Bert and they say that at this stage they will have each contestant take a mandatory five-minute break to do their drug test. Norma is first and follows Anita to the bathroom. A woman arrives in the viewing gallery that catches J.D.’s attention but he can’t bring himself to say anything. Benny, staring straight at the ground, begins to cry. He says that he can’t feel his feet and he is not sure if he can even make it to the bathroom for the drug test. He talks about how this competition was even more important to him than his first, because the first one messed with his head and ended up causing his divorce. He wants to use this one to prove that he is stronger than the Hands on a Hardbody competition.
J.D. listens intently and then speaks for the first time. He says that he’s a local farmer who was hit hard by the recent winter. Times became so tough that he had to sell his truck and this made him feel like a failure, especially to his wife. He looks back to the woman in the audience and tells her he is sorry and she says he is not a failure and that he did not need to do this competition to prove his worth to her.
Norma returns and Anita tells J.D. it is his turn next. Benny stares down at his body in a catatonic nature. The second J.D. starts to head to the bathroom, Benny removes himself from the truck as well. When he tries to walk, he starts to fall but J.D. and Anita catch him. Hoyt then props him up and congrats him on having spent over 150 hours with his hand on a truck at Hoyt Nissan. He then jokingly asks if he quit when he did so he could wouldn’t have to do the drug test. Benny breaks a smile and slaps Hoyt on the shoulder, saying “I guess you’ll never know!”.
In the 79th hour, it is the afternoon on the third day. J.D. and Norma remain situated on opposite sides of the truck, him still stoic and her still jamming out to her music. Bit by bit, the other six competitors show back up to witness the final leg of the competition. Norma’s Walkman runs out of battery and she feels like this might be her downfall. She then begins to sing a religious song on her own, leaving the audience in awe. She then begins to do her hysterical laugh as she sings and the rest of the competitors start to join in with her, even Janis. Norma some sort of transcendental state and starts to clap along with the impromptu laughing and singing.
Anita looks over to Hoyt and asks if the competition is over and Hoyt affirms. J.D.’s first move upon winning is turn around and embrace with his wife, breaking down to his knees as he does with her doing the same. Later in the day, Kelli and Greg drive along a country road in her pick-up. Bert asks what J.D. learned from this experience and J.D. is blunt about it: “If you really want somethin’, you gotta keep yer hands on it.” Kelli and Greg hold each other’s hand as the truck drives off into the distance.
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