The dark comedy Riptides, written and directed by Alex Karpovsky, best known for his deadpan comic relief role in Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls, delivers an insightful, quirky film set in the beautiful surf town of Sayulita, Mexico.
Riptides centers on Toby Cibuzar, played by Steve Little, who is best known as the middle-school band teacher Stevie Janowski on HBO’s Eastbound & Down. Toby is an aging young senior, long in the tooth and somewhat visually unappealing, pot-smoking drinker who loves to bodyboard and plays the marimba. He is a high-end property manager who is likable, slightly delusional, and messy. Every day, he rides through town in his golf cart, bodyboards, has cocktails, and visits with people, including his artist friend Manny (Adrian “Blackpaw” Rodriguez). It’s a happy-go-lucky life in a very appealing place. However, he finds an odd new purpose when acclaimed self-help author Paul Melton, played by the accomplished actor Dylan Baker, and his daughter, Michelle Melton (Bojana Novaković), arrive for a break from book touring, yet still working.
Controlled by his cold, seemingly insensitive, and conniving daughter, Michelle, Paul takes full advantage of his Mexican beach vacation, which leads to unforeseen consequences. Meanwhile, curious about Paul’s latest international best-seller, Leave Your Mark: How to Find Purpose and Carve a Legacy, Toby downloads the book and experiences a life-changing beach-security dream.
Winslow lurks at the edge of a resort pool at dusk in Riptides.
“Toby is an aging young senior, long in the tooth and somewhat visually unappealing, pot-smoking drinker who loves to bodyboard and plays the marimba.”
Paul’s self-proclaimed sobriety, a centerpiece of his empire, is a lie that ultimately becomes his downfall. Desperate to keep her father’s legacy and money intact, Michelle, a strange communicator, and her odd brother, Winslow (John Reynolds), devise a plan to give Toby hush money to pursue his idea to create easy-on-the-genital boogie boards and possibly a woman’s board, too. As they hash out plans, Toby’s past with Jules (Francisco Barreiro), a Sayulita restaurant owner seeking revenge for Toby ruining an influencer’s visit that would have skyrocketed his business, comes to an ugly head.
As the film title suggests, Riptides is an overwhelming, uncontrollable negative force or emotion, so the film not only pokes fun at self-help culture and the superficiality of influencers but also reveals an underbelly of cultural nuances. Even if you yearn to throw life away and move to a surf town like Toby, what makes that thought less likely is folks like Michelle with their bizarre existence, subconscious desire to dance, and ambiguous emotions, which add a strange vibe to the film. Yet Milton’s commentary moves the story along philosophically, as does Toby’s relentless pursuit, in contrast to the film’s often awkward comedy.
Riptides holds its own as a story with a real beginning, middle, and end, and a definite location appeal. Somewhere along the way, the fun and enjoyment take a turn and lose their energy, leading to a twisted ending with a spark of hope that only ocean waves and staring at the horizon can evoke.
"…an insightful, quirky film ..."
