American Wasteland (film)

American Wasterland is a 2018 American drama film directed and co-written by Michael Oblowitz, produced by Nick Cassavetes and co-written by Caroline Riley. It stars Channing Tatum, Shia LaBeouf, Ryan Donowho, Taylor Cole, Ben Foster, Angie Stevenson, Toby Hemingway, Rumer Willis, Pete L. J. Dickson, and Danielle Alonso. The film was released in the United States on February 19, 2018.

Plot
In May 2000, six friends; Tobias Winford (Channing Tatum), Jake Nicholas (Shia LaBeouf) Eliot Manson (Ryan Donowho), Beckett Jen (Taylor Cole), Jack Benson (Ben Foster), and Lisa "Lucky" Grilled (Rumer Willis), have finished University in Colorado. They make a promise to stay friends forever.

In January 2001, The five move to New York City, but are no longer friends: Tobias is now a doctor at New York Medical Center; Jack is a motocross racer; Beckett is a teacher at Junior High where Jack's brother Max (Pete L. J. Dickson) attends (Max has been having trouble at school); Lucky works at a strip club; and Eliot works at NYPD. On day, Eliot makes a bust at Lucky's job and they end up in a fallout. Max is grounded by his dad Henry (David Thornton) for getting into a fight at school, although he sneaks out, and gets into trouble at a biker's club and Jack has to get him out. One biker, Angela Ltinsky (Angie Stevenson) takes a strong liking to Jack and invites him out for dinner while another Paige Malone (Danielle Nicole) befriends Max. Meanwhile, Beckett bumps into Tobias, but they make good terms, congratulating each other. After dinner together, Jack and Angela soak in the hot tub together naked and end up having sex. The next day, the six old friends end up in a fight. Seeing them fight, Max acquires the help of Chris "Graves" Timber (Toby Hemingway), a group therapist. Graves helps the five old friends reunite and make peace with each other.

In July, the six old friends attend a reunion back in Colorado while Max goes skinny-dipping with Paige and her friend Sally (Sharon Hinnendael) which leads to a three some. In September, the events of 9/11 erupt and it is learned that Max and Graves were killed in the plane attack on the two towers.

In the post-credits, Jack and Angela are married and have a son named Maxwell Christopher Benson, named after Max and Graves.

Cast

 * Channing Tatum as Tobias Winford
 * Shia LaBeouf as Jake Nicholas
 * Ryan Donowho as Eliot Mansion
 * Taylor Cole as Beckett Jen
 * Ben Foster as Jack Benson
 * Angie Stevenson as Angela Ltinsky
 * Toby Hemingway as Chris "Graves" Timber
 * Rumer Willis as Lisa "Lucky" Grilled
 * Pete L. J. Dickson as Max Benson
 * Danielle Alonso (credit as Danielle Nicole) as Paige Malone
 * Dianna Camacho as Beckett's mother
 * Theodore E. Gildred III as Detective Marcus
 * Sharon Hinnendael as Sally Campbell
 * David Thornton as Henry Benson, Jack and Max's father

Box office
American Wasteland earned $10 million on it's opening week, finishing at #1 at the US box office. The film ended it's run with $75 million domestically.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reported the film has a 73% based on 51 reviews. Metacritic reported a score of 67 out of 100.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack was released on February 12, 2018.
 * 1) "Over the Rainbow" - Eva Cassidy
 * 2) "" - Jennifer Lopez

Trivia

 * Film debut of former pornstar Danielle Nicole Alonso (Lela Star).
 * Ben Foster and Angie Stevenson, who portray Jack Benson and Angela Ltinsky in the film, are known for starring together on the CBS crime drama ATF: New York.
 * When it came time for Taylor Cole and Rumer Willis to kiss on the couch, neither could do so without drinking alcohol before hand to lower their inhibitions. Later, Cole became so intoxicated she mooned the set a number of times later that night. For the rest of the movie, the entire cast and production crew called her "Winkin' Pink Brown Eye".
 * Despite his dislike of pornstars, Dickson was able to work well with Danielle Alonso.
 * The scene where Max sneaks out of his room, it has posters of Justin Timberlake and Beyonce. Ironically, Max's actor, Pete L. J. Dickson, is a fan of Timberlake and Beyonce as he has four of Timberlake's albums and two of Beyonce's albums.
 * Rated R for strong language, sexual content, and nudity.
 * There is a reference to the 2006 crime drama Alpha Dog (another R-rated film starring Ben Foster): The threesome in the pool between Dickson, Alonso, and Hinnendael's characters is a reference to the threesome pool scene between Anton Yelchin, Amanda Seyfried, and Amber Heard's characters Zack Mazursky, Julie Beckley, and Alma.