The quirky comedy Drunk Bus is a charming film, made all the better by its bizarre cast of characters. Recent college graduate Michael (Charlie Tahan) is, like most college graduates, stuck. His girlfriend Amy (Sarah Mezzanotte) has left him for New York, abandoning Michael in Kent, Ohio where he drives a bus around his college campus. He’s clearly not over losing Amy, and his life as a bus driver is directionless.
That is…until he meets Pineapple (Pineapple Tangaroa), an enormous man with Maori face tattoos and piercings who becomes a security guard for the bus after Michael was beaten by an inebriated passenger. Tangaroa is the unsung hero of Drunk Bus, as his relationship with Michael carries most of the action. He encourages the driver to break out, get over his ex, and take out a new lease on life. The two form a friendship beyond the bus, and it makes for an enjoyable view.
The cast is chock full of eccentricity: Michael’s roommate Josh (Zach Cherry), a former bus driver who causes mayhem at all turns, the beloved FU Bob (Martin Pfefferkorn), a wheelchair-bound grouch who flips everyone off, and Devo Ted (Dave Hill), Pineapple’s weed plug whose sole devotion in life is to the band Devo. Directors Brendon LaGanke and John Carlucci provide an enjoyable time here.