SXSW Review: ‘Recovery’ Is The Charming and Hilarious Covid-19 Road Trip I Never Knew I Needed

Ah, now this is how you do a Covid-19 comedy. World premiering in the ‘Narrative Spotlight’ section at this year’s SXSW festival, “Recovery” is an absolute delight. It takes off at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic as a pair of directionless sisters, Jamie (Whitney Call) and Blake (Mallory Everton) set out on a road trip to save their grandmother from a nursing home during a Covid outbreak.

One of the reasons “Recovery” works so well is because stars Whitney Call and Mallory Everton are such a great pair. They’re so believable as sisters because they really look like sisters/best friends. On top of them starring in the film, Call and Everton co-write the film together. Everton also co-directs the picture with Stephen Meek (who has an acting role in the film as one of the strange people they meet along the way).

The best aspect of this film is that there’s no annoying conflict like there usually are in road trip comedies, or just comedies in general. There’s no major character arguments between the sisters and that feels so refreshing. That’s especially the case for someone like me who loses interest during the big fight fallout.

Now, when I say there’s no conflict, I really do mean there’s no conflict between the core characters. There’s conflict everywhere as the storyline is driven by the need to get their sweet old grandmother out of a nursing home. Their observations about Covid-19 are light and so funny, though, and this is especially the case when they call the nursing home and they talk to wayward resident Dora.

When she says some of the nurses have left and Jamie asks who’s in charge, Dora says, “Covid-19 is in charge now.” There are also great observations about cruise ships and just the general fear of catching it and being cautious in even handling a gas pump. The way the film opens where they’re happy at a birthday party two weeks prior to Covid and everyone celebrates and it slam edits into them quarantined together depressed as anything, I knew I was in for something good.

On the road trip, too, there’s some situational comedy that shines, like with some of the people they meet (like Stephen Meek’s character) and the running gags along the way, like no one really liking their sister Erin (Julia Jolley). As well, the more mundane gags are funny, like a game they play called “Dealbreaker” (at what point is too much baggage for the perfect guy?) or the awful audiobook they listen to on the trip.

It’s light and breezy and funny, and there’s a sense in the script that a lot of this could be improvised because it’s so natural and the pair of actresses laugh so much. And if some of this improvised, that’s just even more impressive because some of it is so damn funny.

I think it feels so entertaining because it’s about togetherness more so than specifically quarantining and being forced to be in each other’s company. They want to be in each other’s company and there’s no bickering, and that’s what makes it feel fun. It’s also important to note that while it doesn’t set out to make light of the Covid-19 pandemic, it pokes fun at it with observational humour that made me feel better about the situation.

It’s lively and a road trip comedy at its heart. And it really does work so well as a road trip comedy and at a taut 80-minute runtime, this was exactly the feel-good, breezy movie I was looking for. It’s the road trip movie I never knew I needed and I’m glad I ended my first year at SXSW by watching “Recovery.”