This review originally ran on July 20, 2017, during the LA Film Festival

“You know, it’s a little bit more of a fun movie than most indie films are, and I think we’ve lost some of that. You don’t see a lot of the Swingers anymore, and we need a little bit more of that. We need more fun indie films instead of it always been something dramatic.” So says writer and director Christian Papierniak, talking about his directorial debut, the punk-soaked Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town.

Making its premiere at this year’s LA Film Festival, “Izzy” is a road movie about a girl (Mackenzie Davis) who, after learning of her ex’s recent engagement, takes to hauling ass across town to try and win him back. Told in chronicles of each neighboring city that are chaptered between Mar Vista to Los Feliz, Izzy’s day is a mess, and we’re along for the fun of it all that Papierniak crafts in loose, punk-rock influenced mayhem.

Izzy enters the movie as a gal who still appears to not have her shit together, waking up from a hook up’s (Lakeith Stanfield) bedroom, and throwing on her white bloody tux – a visual that Papierniak says he came up with around ten or fifteen years ago, stating, “This idea just stuck in my head of this girl in a bloody tux. A bloody white tux. And I just saw this image of her sitting in the back of a taxi cab, and I was like, ‘Well that seems interesting. How do I create a story around that?'”

For our exclusive interview with Christian Papierniak, click here.

This is where the fun spools out from – Izzy hopping from one friend to the next with the hopes of cashing in favors to get ever closer to the other side of town in one day’s time. Among the colorful characters that pop up is Alia Shawkat and Haley Joel-Osment who lend fun to the movie.

[Mackenzie Davis] commands the movie with her fiery manic-onwards energy, while also being able to lend the softer insecurities-driven side…

Fueling the movie is a rocking soundtrack that emphasizes the Riot Grrrl culture that Izzy embodies. Tracks from Corin Tucker (of Sleater-Kinney fame) and her previous band Heavens to Betsy, are deployed in each chapter’s connecting title card and in the background, including a cover of “Axeman” by Izzy and her sister, Virginia (Carrie Coon).

Mackenzie Davis, who audiences may recognize from her fantastic work on the AMC television series Halt and Catch Fire or her bit-role in The Martian, gets a proper vehicle to showcase her star status. She commands the movie with her fiery manic-onwards energy, while also being able to lend the softer insecurities-driven side that dizzies Izzy as she continues to confront why she is running across town. Is the person she is running to only be an excuse to run from herself and her own life’s issues?

On its premiere night at LAFF, Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town was packed, with some two-hundred people getting turned away. It was “like a rock concert,” as Papierniak remembers. “That’s kind of what the movie’s all about, so we wanted it to be that kind of feel.” While the film is now seeking distribution, keep an eye out for this movie that is both rough around the edges while retaining a fun loose vibe.

86 minutes. ‘Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town’ is currently not rated. Now playing in select theaters.