Film Festival Smash With 100% Rotten Tomatoes Score Needs Help
Modern cinema is driven almost entirely by a small handful of massive streaming services, which can serve as a necessary springboard for indie filmmakers looking to make their passion project the next big thing. Unfortunately, this can also have the reverse effect, as films that fail to land on streamers become fully obfuscated to general audiences. One recent indie movie, titled Bob Trevino Likes It, has managed to garner massive critical acclaim on the film festival circuit, but has still yet to land a wide release in theaters or on streaming, months after first screening at South by Southwest.
Tracie Laymon
For those who have never heard of the exciting new film, Bob Trevino Likes It is the latest release from indie filmmaker Tracie Laymon. Laymon, who wrote and directed the critical smash, previously took on directing duty for projects which include Goodnight Burbank, Girls! Girls! Girls!, and a wide array of decorated short films, which have continued to raise her profile in the indie film circuit.
Though the director may not be a household name just yet, her fingerprints have been all over some massive box office successes, since she has worked alongside big-name filmmakers like Richard Linklater, Tess Allen, and Will Ferrell.
Universal Acclaim
In the case of Bob Trevino Likes It, the movie was filmed in Kentucky during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, after receiving special permissions from multiple union reps due to the underground indie nature of the project.
From there, the movie went on to premiere at South by Southwest in March of 2024, where it received a Narrative Feature Grand Jury Award. The few critics lucky enough to catch the movie universally praised the performances, writing, and direction, resulting in an awe-inspiring 100 percent fresh critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bob Trevino Likes It
Bob Trevino Likes It stars John Leguizamo, French Stewart, Rachel Bay Jones, Lauren Spencer, and Euphoria‘s Barbie Ferreira. Per available synopsis, the film’s narrative centers on a young woman seeking to build a relationship with her estranged father.
When she encounters an unrelated childless man who happens to share a name with her father, Bob Trevino, the pair strike up a conversation via Facebook, and eventually come to share in a special bond.
No Wide Release
The film shares themes of lost love, found family, and the pros and cons of the pervasive digital media environment which surrounds us every day. Critics have made it clear in their breakdown of the film that Bob Trevino Likes It is not necessarily for everyone, but at the moment, it seems to be for nobody, since there is no active plan in place to release the movie to a wide audience.
Perhaps some deals are being made behind closed doors, wherein the finished film is being shopped to different distributors, but no such agreement has been made public at the time of this writing.
Support
For now, there’s not much that the general public can do to move along the process of getting Bob Trevino Likes It on streaming, save for throwing out messages of support on social platforms like X and Facebook.
Ironically, the very social media sites that drive the narrative of the film may end up being the driving force behind its big break. With any luck, Bob Trevino Likes It will be premiering on a streaming platform or at a movie theater near you very soon.
