Review: ‘Don’t Trip’ stumbles before leaping over the finish line

Writer/director Alex Kugelman distills the very heated nepo baby conversation into a 90-minute thrill ride that mostly works. Operating as part buddy comedy, part horror/thriller, Don’t Trip wears its ideas on its sleeve. There’s no side-stepping the dog-eat-dog world discussion around making it big in Hollywood. Whether you’re an actor, writer, director, or musician, there will always be gatekeepers blocking the way in. There’s no getting around the game that must be played, and Kugelman uses that sentiment as the impetus behind every character’s motivations and desires. At its worst, the film feels ripped from the early 2000s when rampant gay jokes were prevalent; at its best, it takes a bulldozer to the Hollywood Hills.

Dev (Matthew Sato) promises he has a script that deserves to be made. It’s an action flick, much like Die Hard but set in a children’s hospital, that’ll blow any high-profile studio exec’s mind. While working as an assistant for Jane Cadwell (Pell James), he wields his newfound connections to send his script around to a few people. That doesn’t sit well with Jane, who subsequently fires him over the phone on a Saturday. But he doesn’t allow this minor setback to derail his dreams. He only digs his feet in more. He begins cold emailing and cold calling numerous managers and other industry figures about his script, only to get rejected at every single turn.

He then sets his sights on famed producer Scott Lefkowitz (Fred Melamed) and his nepo baby son, Trip (Will Sennett). He scours Trip’s Instagram, collecting info about him as a way to befriend him. While attending a lavish estate party, his luck turns things around, and he becomes chummy with Trip. Over the course of the first hour or so, Don’t Trip (pun intended, I see) reads mostly as a comedy, with very few traces of horror elements. The only sign we see is the opening scene of a young woman being abducted – this breadcrumb feels out of place, at first, until the pieces finally come together in the third act.

Kugelman keeps the cards so close to the vest that it tests the audience’s patience. But if you stick with it, the film pays off in the finale. The script could have used a bit more polish, a bit more edge, and far fewer “I’m not gay” jokes. The dynamic between Trip and Dev is what most bro friendships seem to be. There are plenty of Jackass-like shenanigans, bonding over whatever straight white men bond over, and little seed planting or foreshadowing. Plus, in the conversation with Jane, she brings up how she’s always championed marginalized voices and such (I didn’t realize a straight white man was marginalized, but I digress). That’s not to say the script is totally without merit. There’s some good stuff buried beneath the bro-y layers. When it’s hot, it scorches.

Alex Kugleman’s Don’t Trip works best as a late-night popcorn flick. It says things most of us have seen posted online from some A-lister’s nepo baby, so it’s not anything new. But the indie film shows great promise for a new voice in horror. While far from perfect, there’s enough here that makes me interested to see what he does next.

Don’t Trip is streaming now on Tubi.