Mercer White is one lucky guy. Sure, his long-absent older
brother is a scumbag and crook, and his sort-of girlfriend is making
porn videos with her cousin. Oh, and his mom just died after a long and
awful illness.
But when Mercer steals a Volvo station wagon at a Eugene, Oregon
carwash, the car’s owner calls the cell phone left inside—and she
turns out to be Zooey Deschanel! Jackpot! What’s more, Deschanel’s
character is probably the nicest person in the world. She’s not angry
with Mercer—she doesn’t even call the cops. They make an
agreement: As Mercer drives south to look for his brother, he’ll
recount his adventures for her over the phone.
It’s a small, somewhat precious twist on the familiar road trip
movie, but The Go-Getter has a lot going for it. The script, by
Oregonian director Martin Hynes, is often hilarious as it deals with
the various stragglers and misfits left behind by Mercer’s brother,
including Maura Tierney and accordionist Corn Mo as drug addicts/pet
store owners/Christian musicians. (Side note: Corn Mo should be in
every movie ever made, ever.)
The performances are uniformly strong across the board. Lou Taylor
Pucci as Mercer is credible and heartfelt. Jena Malone plays Mercer’s
friend from middle school in a ridiculously sexy performance that
culminates in her, Pucci, and
Deschanel reenacting the dance scene
from Godard’s Band of Outsiders (it makes sense when you see it,
sort of). Deschanel’s She & Him bandmate, M. Ward, is onscreen for
only a couple seconds, but his gorgeous soundtrack becomes a character
of its own, as sun-flared and dreamlike as the unfussy but effective
photography.
Hynes capably juggles different narrative forms, including dreams,
flashbacks, an ecstasy trip, and a book-on-tape voiceover, and the film
never suffers from sentimentality as it deals with some of the sadder
aspects of Mercer’s past. And Deschanel is almost unfairly appealing:
Her character is something of an angel, so when Deschanel is able to
make her human, she’s irresistible. It’s easy to put ourselves in
Mercer’s shoes as he falls in love with her, but The Go-Getter also manages to keep us in his shoes for the rest of his journey. It’s
a coming-of-age story that sticks, and grows, with you.