Film Review: Nimrods Is A Fun, Coming-Of-Age Comedy Set To The Tune of Green Day

If you’ve followed any of my writing in the music sphere for a number of years, you’ll know that I have two favorite bands, the ones that I wax poetic about incessantly: My Chemical Romance and Green Day. They both live at the top of my list, and Nimrods is about the latter. As someone who has been singing the words to “American Idiot” since he was twelve years, old, who has attended nearly every Green Day show in Northern California since the spring of 2009 when I was finally allowed to see them, who has made the pilgrimage to 924 Gilman to see Green Day, Pinhead Gunpowder, and countless other young bands that they inspired, I can wholeheartedly say that Nimrods is a loving testament to a band that means so much to so many people. I am always skeptical about band-produced films, whether they are biopics or fictional pieces for artists to take a shot at acting. A lot of them can miss the mark, and rely solely on the celebrity aspect of their names to drive ticket sales, leaving a hollow shell of a story and incessant cameos in its place.

Nimrods is none of that. It is a charming, coming-of-age comedy about three teenagers Tommy, Fred, and Chad (Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman, Ryan Foust), who are obsessed with punk rock and, particularly, Green Day. They live in the Midwest and are thrilled to pieces when they find out that the coveted punk rock trio - Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool - are doing a record signing nearby. They get a chance to hand over a demo tape of their band, Analog Dogs (stylized analOG Dogs). Buzzing, they tell Tommy’s older brother Wayne (Keen Rufalo) and his best friend Keith (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio). They don’t believe them. In fact, Wayne is more annoyed that Tommy won’t help him out around the house. To get back at him, Keith prank calls Tommy, saying that he’s Tre Cool, they loved his demo tape, and they want the band to get their ass out to LA and open for them on New Years’ Eve.

What follows is a road-trip comedy that finds sweetness in its punk rock edges. The band plays their way through country bars, broken-down cars, dingy old ice cream vans, pop-up shows, and motels with weird owners. Some of these stories were supposedly inspired by Green Day’s beginnings on the road, most likely when they were touring on their first two albums before exploding into the stratosphere with 1994’s Dookie. The choice to make a Green Day-adjacent film rather than an all-out biopic is a smart one, particularly in a day and age where biopics are becoming more sanitized and straying from the truth of the artist.

There is an emotional gravitas to the film as well. The boy’s mother (played by Jenna Fischer) deals with the fact that she is raising two boys as a single Mom, after losing their father. In a touching scene around Christmas Day, Tommy receives his father’s old leather jacket and a 4-track recorder. The look that she gives him when he puts it on was reminiscent of the same look my mother gave me when she posthumously gifted me my grandfather’s old leather jacket when it fit me. The relationship between Tommy and his brother is strained, but there is so much love underneath the surface that eventually pushes through, and it results in heartwarming moments.

I saw a lot of myself in Tommy (and let’s be honest, Chad) watching this movie - the obsession with music, the gullibility of believing that you had a chance to meet your heroes when in reality someone was messing you, the dedication to getting to your final destination and achieving your dreams by any means necessary. The film’s culmination resulted in one of the best experiences I’ve had in a movie theater in a long time, a conclusion that reminds you that it’s not so much about the destination, but about the journey and the people you meet along the way.

And as someone who has been to dozens of Green Day shows, I will say this: everything you see in that final concert scene is absolutely plausible. I’ve seen it happen; it can happen, and it added a level of realism that made me smile. Most importantly, it reminded me why I love this band so much.

Release Date: August 14th, 2026
Rated: R (for language throughout, teen drug use and drinking, and some sexual references)
Running Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

Directed by: Lee Kirk
Written by: Lee Kirk
Story by: Green Day and Lee Kirk
Produced by: Tim Perell, Green Day, Ryan Kroft, Anna Keegan

Starring: Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman, Ryan Foust, Jenna Fischer, Mckenna Grace, Angela Kinsey, Keen Ruffalo, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool, Fred Armisen, Bobby Lee, Sean Gunn