North Hollywood: Indie skateboarding movie highlights charismatic youngsters and Vince Vaughn's dad chops

By Thom Ernst

Rating: B 

Before getting into the inescapable charm of director Mikey Alfred's film debut North Hollywood, let's talk about the elephant in the room.  And by elephant, I mean the stalwart symbol of the Republican Party, who is, in this case,Vince Vaughn.

Vaughn appears in North Hollywood as the caring yet short-sighted father of Michael (Ryder McLaughlin), a young man who wants nothing more than to be a professional skateboarder.  In North Hollywood (NoHo to the residents), they are known as skaters. 

Dad Vince Vaughn lays down the law with his skateboarding son in North Hollywood.

Vaughn's career has slid since the heyday of Swingers and Wedding Crashers. Sure, we can blame the fickleness of Hollywood, but the better bet is to chalk Vaughn up as another casualty of public politics. 

Remember the killer glare he gave Meryl Streep at the 2017 Golden Globes during her passionate speech against Trump's campaign?  Or when twitter leaked footage of Vaughn deeply engaged in a conversation with (then) President Trump at a Louisiana football game?  

Politics do matter in Hollywood. And Vaughn's support of the Republican party and his outspoken advocacy against gun control, claiming guns should be allowed in schools (I trust he means for the staff and not the students), does not help.   

It seems that Vaughn's film choices of late are roles in smaller independent movies where his performance tends to outshine (or overshadow) the material Like it or not, his politics has not dampened his onscreen charisma. 

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And Vaughn’s charisma is fully on display in North Hollywood. Even when his character makes poor decisions for his son, his rationale is always clear and his intentions understood. If you are old enough to remember Breaking Away (1979), think Paul Dooley only less frantic and not so anti-Italian. 

But as good as Vaughn is, he is not the sole reason to watch North Hollywood. That honour goes to Laughlin and co-stars Aramis Hudson and Nico Hiraga, as Adolf and Jay, respectively. 

The film's tagline claims it to be the first-ever movie about becoming a pro skater. That claim is specific enough to be true, but I do wonder where that puts Lords of Dogtown (2005).  Then again, the tagline reasonably sets-up the humour, subtle and easy to misinterpret, that runs through most of the film.  

Laughlin, much like DJ Qualls' underrated performance in The New Guy  (2002) or Dustin Hoffman's turn as an aimless young man in The Graduate (1967), scores on his charm rather than boyband looks and rock-hard abs. He's far from stuffy, and yet he's a dedicated altar boy who doesn't drink or smoke and refuses to engage in conversations that degrade women. 

He calls his father Pops. 

And though his only hope is to skate with a local group of pro skaters, he does what he can to appease his Pops, who expects his son to focus on getting into college or working with him on the construction site.  Pro skating is not an option.

The script, co-written by Laughlin, meanders through a series of primarily delightful and amusing events leading to Pops' inevitable confrontation. But as Michael's dreams edges towards reality, the script drops the charm. Michael begins to dismiss his lifelong friends and doesn't fit in with his new friends. It's here the film stalls into a dreary expose of what it takes to succeed. Even the inclusion of Miranda Cosgrove as Rachel, Michael's newfound girlfriend, can't lift the film back to its early glory. 

But this is not necessarily an error in the filmmaking, as it is evident that director Alfred's preferred dramatic style is far different from his comedic style. The comedy in the film is spontaneous and engaging. The drama is subtle and patient, the effect of which makes it challenging to track Michael's progress with his friends, his relationship, and his sports career.  

By the third act, Alfred presents an entirely different mood settling into a comfortable amalgamation of the first two acts and culminating in a satisfying end of the journey. 

North Hollywood is far from being a traditional sports film, but I guess that can be expected from the first-ever movie about becoming a pro skater.

North Hollywood is directed by Mikey Alfred and stars Ryder Laughlin, Aramis Hudson, Nico Hiraga, Miranda Cosgrove, and Vince Vaughn.  North Hollywood is available July 23 on VOD via Vortex Media.