Turbo Cola

Do you remember Y2K? Not just New Year, not just the end of a decade, or even the end of a century, but the end of a millennium? Those of us lucky enough to experience this momentous moment in the calendar still talk of little else; our experience of the fin du siècle expanded our minds and united the world. And then the internet came along and ruined everything, so a little nostalgia is due…

Based on a play called ‘New Years Eve at the Stop N Go” by Samantha Oty, Luke Covert’s film is a zesty, upbeat B movie largely set in a humble bodega as the time drags by before the midnight hour. Counter-clerk Austen (Nicolas Stoesser) has an upbeat Ferris Bueller-like attitude to life, despite pulling a gruelling shift, and he’s got reasons to be cheerful; together with pal Swearsky (Jared Spears), he’s figured out a victimless crime that will send them into the future with their pockets crammed with banknotes. It’s a stealth heist, in which Austin can reach into an ATM via a soft-drinks cabinet, stuffing the notes into the hollow/cardboard stand advertising the Turbo Cola of the title. It seems like a fool-proof plan, but the boys don’t bargain on the sheer number of bodega invaders who turn up in the course of the evening…

Turbo Cola may not have an established brand name to offer when it comes to comedy or thrills, but it delivers both; with a strong theatrical backbone to keep things moving along, and a well drawn cast of characters, this has a little of Richard Linklater’s Suburbia but delivered in a knowing, poppy way. A large, youthful cast provided a variety of performance styles, all of which gel under Covert’s eye, and even the minor characters are well drawn. And the music, the clothes, and the attitudes all feel very turn-of–the-century, for better or for worse.

Turbo Cola is a low-budget indie comedy/drama that punches well above its weight, maintaining moral tension right until the final moments. Of course, if you bring on a gun in act one, you have to use it in act three, but Turbo Cola is engagingly slippery in avoiding clichés; yes, that might be blood on the floor in the opening flash-forward, but it could also be a spilled red slushy. It’s never easy making a low budget film, but Covert and his crew pull of the big score here; we may be almost out of time, but with a gulped-down jolt of cool Turbo Cola, we can all party like it’s 1999.

Thanks to Giant Pictures for access. Available on digital in the US from June 14th 2022: https://geni.us/TurboCola