To The Max
Genre: Crime/Dark Comedy
Director: Matt Spicer
Writers: Lon Charles & Chad Taylor
Cast: Noah Centineo, Rob Lowe, Kathryn Hahn, Timothy Olyphant, Jack Kilmer, Tony Revolori, Eliza Scalen, Antoine Olivier-Pilon, Matt Dillon, Garret Dillahunt, Guy Fieri
Plot: Celebrity chef extraordinaire Guy Fieri (Guy Fieri) makes his way through San Francisco's premiere exotic car dealership, British Motors. He examines the various Aston Martins, Alpha Romeos and Bentleys before stopping his tracks at the sight of a banana yellow Lamborghini Gallardo. The salesman starts going through his sales pitch, but Fieri tells him to shut up and let the car sing to him. He tells the salesman that he wants all the bells and whistles, all the possible upgrades, no matter the cost. When he's told that the car will take two weeks to be ready and cost him $190,000, Fieri tells him if they can have it ready in a week he'll make it an even $200,000.
In the suburbs of San Francisco, Max Wade (Noah Centineo) lives a comfortable life in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in America. He comes and goes to his high school as he likes, a laissez-faire attitude that mirrors that of his parents Troy (Rob Lowe) and Denise (Kathryn Hahn) (which helps him fly under their radar). For his 16th birthday, his parents buy him thee jet black motorcycle he has always wanted.
At school, he meets up with his Colby (Jack Kilmer) and Trevor (Tony Revolori) and shows off his new ride. The three of them give no effort towards their classes, opting instead to hit on girls, share crude memes with each other and play their part in the school’s weed market. While smoking in Trevor’s car during lunch, a stoned Colby wonders aloud where they all will be in five years. Trevor says his parents want him to go to college but that’s not his style. Max says what they’re all thinking: they’ll be exactly where they are right now, smoking in Trevor’s car. They all laugh.
On the first day of the new school year, Max is bummed to find that Colby and Trevor aren’t in his first period math class. He considers skipping already but chooses to go. He is immediately smitten by a new girl, Eva (Eliza Scanlen). With no hesitation he tries flirting with her but she isn’t receptive to it. She has a certain degree of coldness to her behind her gorgeous looks, which makes her even more attractive to Max. After school, he tells his friends about her and they boost his ego, saying no girl has ever turned him down before. Behind his back, Colby and Trevor list off the girls who have rejected Max over the years.
After initially failing, Max decides to take his time and let her become attracted to him. On the day of a math test, Max notices her struggling with a certain problem. He whispers the answer to her and she smiles and quietly thanks him. After class, he tells Colby about this and admits that he had no clue what the right answer is, he sucks at math! Max and Eva’s friends groups start to merge and they have conversations more. Still, anytime Max gets flirtatious, she shuts him down.On the weekend, the group plans to go out to the nightclubs in a few weeks as they all have fake IDs, except for Eva. Max tells her he knows where he can get her one for free. She thanks him again for his generous offer.
At home, Max tries to contact the guy who hooked him up with his ID but finds out that the man currently in jail for pissing off a police officer. No, sorry, he read that wrong - pissing on a police officer. Max talks with his buddies and they ask why doesn’t he just try to make one himself. That’s not a bad idea, he thinks. He asks his mom for some money but she turns him down, saying they just bought the motorcycle. He retorts by saying the money is for a very protective helmet. It works and she says OK. He uses this money to buy a commercial-grade ID printer and “Operation Fake ID” is a go.
Max gives Eva her fake ID and she is incredibly grateful for it. She says that she’ll see him later that weekend when they all go out to the clubs. Meanwhile, Max sees the profitability in the fake ID business so he starts selling them to the other rich kids at his school. This is a success and Max starts making bank, so much so that he stops attending school regularly again. His mom, who is usually oblivious to his actions, asks if she can see the helmet he bought. He stalls the conversation and later goes to a special motorcycle shop downtown, asking for the cheapest helmet they've got. As he is looking around at their selection, he sees tinted visors and asks if he can have one added on. The shop worker obliges and Max shows it off to his mom, who now believes him. Afterwards, he discards of it in his closet since he never wears helmets.
When the group of friends finally go out to the clubs, they all get in thanks to their fake IDs. Max knows his boundaries with Eva but those start to blur the drunker he gets. Meanwhile, as she is talking with her friends, they joke how pussy-whipped Max is for a girl that doesn’t even like him. Eva says he seems like a good guy and all but - actually, no, he doesn’t seem good at all. “He rides a motorcycle to school, for god's sake” one of the friends jokes. As he is walking by, Trevor catches that last part and relays it to Max. Eva then comments on a blonde guy, Landon (Antoine Olivier-Pilon), across the room and says that he is totally her type and the friends agree. Meanwhile, Trevor tells Max about the motorcycle comment. Max, with his eyes fixated on Eva as she talks to the blonde guy, shrugs his shoulders and says “ok” as if to accept his fate before going off to hit on other girls at the club.
The next day, Max shows up at British Motors, San Francisco's premiere exotic car dealership. He struts in ready to buy a Lamborghini but it becomes abundantly clear that he hasn't made nearly as much as he was giving on and is turned down immediately. At home, he vents about this to Trevor and Colby as they chat over their online game. Trevor says that Max is an entrepreneur after all, so why doesn't he find a DIY way to get a Lamborghini. Colby agrees and says that he could break into the dealership secret-agent-style and get the car himself. But then Colby walks the idea back a bit, realizing that Max, as he is killing virtual baddies, loves his friends' ideas (and the subtle ego-stroking that goes along with it) and says he can just make himself a fake ID. Max says they should totally go forward with "Operation Steal-A-Fucking-Lambo".
At the dealership, Max is dressed in all black gear and wearing a makeshift headset from his gaming gear. Trevor and Colby help him set up a rope to the roof and he climbs up the side of the building. Once on the roof, he talks to his friends over the headset and they tell him the coast is clear. He prepares to rappel down from the ventilation system but the weight mechanisms are off and he goes crashing to the floor. He gets up and dusts himself off and is flabbergasted to see that the door nearby is actually unlocked. He wonders - somewhat rhetorically - how they missed that in their survey of the target.
Now that the hard work is done, Max scopes out the potential cars. Finally, he sees the most tricked-out yellow Lambo in the dealership. He tells Trevor and Colby that he has met the girl of his dreams - after Eva, of course. His friends start to become panicked when they think they see security monitoring the area. Max sees the keys in the car and makes a break for it. However, he soon realizes he has doesn’t know the different controls and the windshield wipers start squealing as he makes pulls out of the lot. His friends tell him that the guards were a false alarms and just some random homeless guys. At this point, Max is flying on the Golden Gate bridge, with the camera catching a glimpse of the license plate: THATGUY.
The local news broadcast the next morning covers a story about the stolen car of celebrity chef Guy Fieri. In a brief statement outside of his home, a teary-eyed Guy pleads for justice and that his baby be brought back to him in one piece.
Max pulls up to his high school in Guy Fieri's Lamborghini. He saunters up to Eva and tells her to check out his new car. She asks how he could afford such a car, and he pulls out a wad of hundred dollar bills. He assures her that he has the money to buy her anything she wants. She isn't impressed by his display of wealth, and tries to brush past him. Max stops her and asks her what time he's picking her up in the Lambo for Valentine's Day. Eva breaks the news to Max that she's dating Landon. Max tries to hide his disappointment and tells her to "drop the zero and get with the hero" before hopping back into the Lambo and speeding away.
On his way home, Max talks to himself - comparing himself to Landon and finding himself superior in every category. Eliza’s news is incomprehensible to him. He then gives himself a pep talk and convinces himself that he doesn’t lose. He’s not taking no for an answer.
On Valentine’s Day, Max sneaks into his parents' room and steals his dad’s pistol and loads it. He goes to his room and starts working out while spending all day watching films to get him pumped up: Scarface, Rambo II, The Matrix. He is interrupted by Troy, who sits down on Max’s bed to talk to his son. Max freezes, assuming he knows about the gun. Troy, however, talks about how Max has been acting differently lately and he is worried about him. Troy blames it on himself, saying they never had “The Talk” and he figured now would be a good time given what day it is. Max looks at his dad with disgust and says that he’s 16 - he’s already had sex ed for Christ’s sake. Troy apologizes for misreading the situation and Max dismisses him from the room.
Max sits on his motorcycle dressed in all black, including his tinted helmet. He sits patiently outside a house until a truck pulls up. Eva walks from the house and into the truck, which turns out to be Landon’s. They drive off and Max starts to follow them. When he gets an opening on a street with little traffic, he pulls into the left lane beside Landon’s truck. He pulls out the pistol from his waistband and starts shooting. The windows on Landon’s truck shatter as Max riddles it with bullets. However, he starts fumbling the gun, which causes him to lose control of the motorcycle so he drops the gun. Landon’s truck veers right and hits a utility pole. Meanwhile, Max turns around to pick up the gun and speeds off.
In the truck, Landon and Eva look at each other with slight shock. She then lets out an exasperated sigh of relief and they hug, realizing that somehow neither one of them got hit by any of the bullets. As Max is driving away, he nods to himself - proud of what he has done (or at least what he thinks he has done).
Later, Max hangs out with Colby and Trevor and brags about what he did. They break the news to him of that Landon came out of the incident uninjured. Max refuses to believe this but regroups and curses out Eva before admitting that he still likes her. He then lights up and says that he has a new idea.
Bay Area police detective Ben Garrett (Matt Dillon) and his partner Terry Dressing (Garret Dillahunt) review the case of the drive-by shooting. They checks any nearby security footage and discovers that the motorcyclist was seen stopping at a gas station to get gas literally minutes after the shooting. Terry posits to his partner “How dumb can this guy be?”. Det. Garrett spots something in the footage and asks to zoom in. He tells Terry “You know how you tease me for being a big motorcycle guy? Well who gets the last laugh now, bitch?” He says that helmet the suspect is wearing can only sold by a certain store or online and the only one nearby is in San Francisco.
The two detectives visit the motorcycle shop and easily narrow down who bought the helmet in question. The name: “Carmine Columbo”. They look up this name in the police database but aren’t able to find someone. They decide to call Eva back in for questioning to see if they can get another lead. She tells him that there has been this guy who has basically been stalking her and constantly asking to ride in his lambo. They ask to see a picture of the guy. She shows him Max, who they take to the motorcycle shop owner, who verifies that that is who purchased the helmet. They realize that they don’t have a current address for Max so ask Eva if she’d like to help a little bit more in this investigation.
Max, Colby, and Trevor sit in a dark, makeshift “heist-planning room” like you would see in the movies. They are planning out a robbery of a high-end jewelry store, so he can steal diamonds to give to Eva - which would surely make her finally infatuated with him. However, they are interrupted when Max gets a text from Eva asking if he is free. She finally wants to take him up on his offer for a ride. Max celebrates this occasion and his friends pump him up and hi-five him. He texts back for her to meet him at a storage facility where the car is parked.
Max and Eva arrive near the same time. He acts overly flirty, and she somewhat acts that way back this time. Before he can open up the storage unit to get the car out, he can sense that something is wrong. He turns around to find multiple police cars pulling up. He calls Eva a “stupid fucking bitch” and starts running but the police are able to tackle him. They open up the locker and find everything: Guy’s Lambo, the motorcycle, the helmet, the gun, Max’s money, everything. Terry laments to Garrett how dumb someone could be to keep all of this incriminating evidence in one location. They talk to the storage unit owner, who says that the unit was owned by a “Carmine Columbo”. He shows them the picture of the ID and it is a fake ID with Max’s picture.
In the visitation room at the Marin County jail, Max's parents introduce him to high-priced defense attorney Charles Dresow (Timothy Olyphant). Dresow asks Max to give his side of the prosecution's case against him. As soon as Max starts to speak, Dresow cuts him off and urges Max to not speak - ever. Dresow turns to Troy and Denise and tells them that the jury is going to hate Max since he comes across as entitled and, frankly, like a douchebag. Denise is shocked that someone would use such a term toward her baby, but Troy tells her to keep her opinion to herself. Dresow is the best in the business and they should follow his lead. Dresow tells them that the plan will be to keep Max as far away from the stand as possible. The more Max talks, the more he will hurt the case. Max starts to get angry and insults Dresow. Troy smacks Max on the back of the head and tells him to shut up. Dresow says that their best bet is to paint Max as a dumb kid who didn't know any better and cross their fingers and hope the judge decides to try him as a juvenile rather than an adult.
In court, Max smirks as the judge lists the very serious charges against him. The judge announces that despite Max only being 17, he will be tried as an adult based on the serious and violent nature of the crimes he has been charged with committing. Troy and Denise are shocked. Dresow thanks the judge for his time and leaves the courtroom. Max is then taken away by the bailiff, while puffing his chest out trying to look as big and tough as possible.
During the trial, Troy and Denise sit right behind their son. Charles Dresow is in his element and starts to show why he was hired in the first place. He has the arresting officer's testimony completely thrown out after he argues that owning a motorcycle does not make him an expert enough to identify the merchant who sold a particular motorcycle helmet. Everything appears to be going Max's way, until the prosecution calls Guy Fieri to the stand. The jury is clearly star-struck. Even Max's mother Denise is impressed by Fieri taking the stand and takes a quick picture on her phone. Guy Fieri gives an impassioned testimony about how much the car Max stole means to him. When he was a young boy growing up in rural Ohio, the idea of owning a Lamborghini was the ultimate sign of status for his close knit Italian family. His grandfather would always tell him that owning such an automobile is the only way to prove one has truly made it in life. He had worked so hard throughout his life to attain that status his late grandfather always wanted for him. Fieri starts to tear up as he describes the police notifying him that the car was stolen, comparing it to finding out one's own child has been abducted. By the time Guy Fieri is done with his testimony, the jury is practically in tears. Even Max's own mother is misty-eyed. Max, however, smiled throughout the entire testimony, proud of the work he did. Dresow puts his head down in defeat. It doesn't take long for the jury to end their deliberation and announce that they find Max Wade guilty of all charges. The judge dismisses the court and announces that court will resume next week for sentencing.
Late one night, Colby and Trevor pull up behind the jail in a stolen car, radio booming. They open up the trunk and pull out a sledge hammer and a set of bolt cutters. They walk up to the perimeter fence and cut a sizable hole with the bolt cutters. They look at the building, and spot someone waving from a high first floor window. Colby and Trevor give each other a nod and forge forward toward the exterior wall of Max's cell. Colby and Trevor start arguing about who gets to use the sledgehammer to break down the wall. They play Rock, Paper, Scissors, which Trevor wins. He gleefully grabs the sledgehammer, rears back, and hits the wall as hard as he can. It makes a very loud sound, but doesn't so much as scratch the paint on the outside of the jail. Trevor drops the sledgehammer and begins holding his hands in pain. Colby bemoans Trevor's lack of upper body strength and picks up the sledgehammer. He tells Trevor to watch and learn. Colby swings the hammer at the wall, but once again, despite the thunderous sound it makes, the hammer failed to even make a dent in the wall. They start yelling up at the window for Max about what they should try next since the sledgehammer plan isn't working. As Colby and Trevor stand there dumbfounded, completely surprised that they couldn't break down a jailhouse wall with a hammer, a half dozen flashlights appear in the distance and start closing in on them. Colby points out the flashlights to Trevor and says they should make a run for it. They yell "Sorry Max!" and hurry back to the car and speed off before the guards can catch them. Max sits in his jail cell with his head in his hands as he hears Colby and Trevor make their getaway.
Max Wade is back in court with his parents and Dresow at his side for the sentencing hearing. Max has a smile on his face, filled with confidence that he will get off with a slap on the wrist. The judge announces that due to Max's reckless disregard for the life and well-being of others and his seeming complete lack of remorse, he feels he has no choice but to sentence Max to the stiffest punishment possible: life in prison. Max's mother breaks down crying, literally throwing herself onto the ground. Max's father gives him a long overdue look of disappointment. Charles Dresow quickly gathers his things and exits the courtroom as the bailiffs escort Max out of the court room.
Guy Fieri is in his garage, with a tear in his eyes has his arms embrace the front hood. "I've missed you, so much," he whispers.
