Writer-director Spencer Zender’s What’s My Name Again? takes us to Southern California during the mid-’80s. A quintessential SoCal teenager, Bo (Ryan Winn) lives in a beach bum hippie culture and is about to turn 18. Like every teenager, Bo is facing an identity crisis, but this is more severe. In order to get a handle on his identity, he needs to pick one of his three fathers’ surnames. Coming-of-age stories often depict adolescence’s troubles, but this one gets lost in marijuana smoke and endless beer. The film touches on a simpler time; when answering machines existed, but not phones or smartphones, only chorded telephones. High tide waves, palm trees, and the sun were all good things and the world was simpler.
Bo possesses a swimming record, which provides him with an opportunity for college, and goes out with the rich Alea Kai (Talia Mychael Blaney). Meanwhile, his closest friend, Griffin Nelson (Nick Schultz), has to deal with accepting his sexual preference. Easy and pleasant as the past may look, this is not true for Bo. His life is completely shattered when he learns the truth from his mother, Karen (Allison Byrnes), just beforehand his eighteenth birthday. Karen and her street smarts and sharp tongue provide the humor, however, things can get a little out of hand at times.
Bo’s dads are all an archetype for a type of man. Scott Baxter, Robert Olfasson, and Jimmy Humpton all try to fit the roles of an ideal father, but they fail to deliver any real value as a father figure. This once again sheds light on another layer of identity crisis. Bo’s frustrations throughout What’s My Name Again? are real because he struggles with a crisis of identity that needs fixing whilst simultaneously dealing with the question of who the protagonist really is, irrespective of his name. Considerable personal anger must be overcome by Bo when he is faced with the question of who he wants to be. He has a father complex, which is an understatement, and ironically this holds for his girlfriend’s father.
Aleah, Griffin, and Bo find themselves surrounded by strange people at a pool party. On the drinks side, the entertainment was wild. The grandparents chugged hotdog-stuffed martinis while the multitude of redneck relatives drank from “booze lockers” all while Bo’s mother served him birthday shots. The rest of the family was demolished by a pack of “twisted sisters”. For his birthday, Bo received a card game that was more scandalous than funny, the winner could only show their breasts. The fathers reminisce while Bo pours himself more drinks and lets loose, all while grim jokes fly. The setting may seem chaotic and borderline raunchy, but it was all worth it as Bo swam into his “advisement” and decided to relish in it. In the end, he picked a name.
The classic movie is enhanced by the song that plays through the credits “What’s My Name Again?”. The locations are beautiful and lasting impressions are made by the great views of the ocean and the sunset. Bo’s eccentricity and Zender’s appeal are equally insightful, Zender goes somewhere new with his motivations. Zender has given people something to look forward to. Will Bo’s natural curls reappear, only time will tell. One thing is sure, Zender is bound to blow people away again.
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