Reviews
REVIEWS/Articles
‘Limo Ride’ almost a cult classic
David Lynch, ABQ Free Press, September 29, 2016
“Limo Ride” starts out incredibly promising, just like the excursion it depicts. It teases a fast-paced, stylistically creative, energetic romp that is also pretty hilarious.
From the first moments, the film immerses the audience to as much of an extent that a movie like this can, and probably should, given the crude material that proceeds for about 80 minutes. Make sure you’re settled in, because the story is told in a way that makes you feel like the characters – themselves the narrators of the story – are right there with you.
Review: ‘Limo Ride’
Joe Baker, Dallas Film Now, September 29, 2016
I’m not sure I completely believe everything in Gideon Kennedy and Marcus Rosentrater’s self described “doc comedy” Limo Ride, but it’s still an infectious and ludicrous tale that starts out as a small adventure between ten Alabama people binge-drinking, drug-taking and all out partying on their way to the New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge in Pensacola, Florida, and then quickly swerves into something more sinister and chaotic. It’s basically the country-fried bender to end all benders.
Between a Doc and a Hard Place: What Docs Can Teach Narrative and What Narrative Can Teach Docs
Gideon C. Kennedy, MovieMaker, October 10, 2016
A recent podcast we went on to be interviewed about our film Limo Ride opened with the question, “Why did you decide to make a documentary and not a real movie?”
The interviewer went on to correct himself and otherwise proved to be a gracious host with excellent questions, observations, and a great deal of praise for our film. However, if a self-professed film fanatic is still asking this, it seems time again to address a point we thought was put to bed.
Gideon C. Kennedy on Limo Ride
Marc Madrigal, Story Punch Podcast, October 11, 2016
Gideon shares about the genesis of the film, its basis in real life Southern bar stories, and his research into the rite-of-passages narratives.
Episode 110: Limo Ride (Non-Spoiler)
Matt Hatfield, CinemayVillainy Podcast, October 10, 2016
This episode of CinemaVillainy, we are doing an advance review/discussion of the film Limo Ride. It is a non-spoiler discussion. Limo Ride is a reenactment of a crazy night, that has to be seen.
PODCAST #174: LIMO RIDE CREATORS GIDEON KENNEDY & MARCUS ROSENTRATER
Bub Smith, Slackjaw Punks Podcast, October 5, 2016
In this episode film makers Gideon Kennedy and Marcus Rosentrater call into the podcast to chat about the craziest night of drinking ever and the documentary they made about it, Limo Ride. You know that one story you got about you and your friends getting “wild”? Forget it! Limo Ride tells the tale of the greatest drinking story ever! Be sure to check out Limo Ride of VOD on Oct 14th! The guys also review Limo Ride as The SJP Movie of the Week.
‘Limo Ride’ Hilariously Proves That Truth is Wilder Than Fiction
Christopher Campbell, Film School Rejects, March 31, 2014
Eventually, even while the night’s events escalate in terms of how funny and frightening and incredibly insane they are, it’s clear this isn’t a movie necessarily about this particular story. It’s about stories like this in general and how they’re told, often with spots in the timeline as well as in logic as they’re embellished for exaggeration or just to make up for foggy memory.
Directors Gideon C. Kennedy and Marcus Rosentrater deliver a riotously entertaining movie for something based on a bunch of guys talking about something that happened a long time ago and that means very little to anyone outside of that group. It has a high potential to become a cult nonfiction film, joining such favorites as American Movie, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Heavy Metal Parking Lot, The King of Kong and maybe some that don’t also feature long-haired characters.
Oak Cliff 2014 Preview: BUZZARD, FIGHT CHURCH, LIMO RIDE, Repertory Titles, And More
Peter Martin, Twitch, June 19, 2014
What's of greater interest is the method of storytelling. Audio interviews with the participants provide the voice-over as the events are recreated with actors. This provides an element of novelty for documentary-style filmmaking, and the directors add a further layer of objective perspective through these recreations.
AFF PREVIEW: LIMO RIDE Takes a Trip Down Insanity Lane
Andrew Kemp, ATL Retro, March 29, 2014
Audiences of LIMO RIDE are likely to fall into two camps: one group will compare the events on screen with their own rowdy adventures and thank their conscience for never letting them get this far off track. The others might just take this film as a challenge.
Of course there’s more going on with LIMO RIDE than the humor or the wait for the next big event to drop, including a subtle examination of the ways in which we transform memory into mythology. There’s also an open question as to how much is happening to these guys and how much they’re bringing on themselves.
Review: LIMO RIDE (2014 Atlanta Film Festival)
Dean Treadway, filmicability, March 28, 2014
The filmmakers rely almost solely on recreations to provide the images for the movie (making it seem sort of like a southern-fried Errol Morris epic, though there are no soul-searching talking heads here--the participants only make appearances on-screen at the very end).
Thus truly begins the most amazing downward spiral ever, a drunken descent into a freezing hell of a night, with a sketchy limo driver and his possibly crack-addled cohort leading these ten friends (and one girlfriend) into a no-man's-land where they each start to wonder whether they're gonna survive all this so-called fun.
Georgia filmmakers stray from home in Atlanta Film Festival documentaries
Cameron McAllister, Reel GA, March 25, 2014
Sure, you could listen to the audio by itself for a fun story or watch the video on mute for some great production values—but together, a story that would get lost in the 'I guess you just had to be there' abyss turns into a riveting, nutbar yarn so crazy, it must be true.
Without ever compromising its 'down-home' appeal, "Limo Ride" has exceptionally sharp photography and editing. A great opening credits sequence is the first clue that the film was in the hands of inventive filmmakers. The film never uses archive footage, and never attempts to look like it does. Careful and creative lighting transforms a real-life event into one that would happen in your imagination—complete with more polish, more colors and all the right embellishments.
Nuking the New Year: 'Limo Ride' celebrates oral storytelling, good times gone bad
Michael Dumas, Alabama Press-Register, January 2, 2014
There’s a moment, more than an hour into the new film “Limo Ride,” where several of the characters, some shirtless, perch around a blazing fire in the middle of a dirt road, abandoned on a frigid night.
Thawed from the ridiculousness of a New Year’s Eve gone incredibly bad, a collective laugh builds within the group amid the crackle of the campfire until the entire soundscape is filled with fun and flame.
The scene becomes a full-on “giggle montage,” linking the previously mentioned group with three of their buddies, stranded along the same road on the floor of a deserted RV, spooning each other for warmth.