In Spencer Zender’s film, What’s My Name Again? We are brought back to the mid-1980s to Southern California’s beach bum hippie culture, where Bo (Ryan Winn) finds out he needs to make a life-defining choice as he turns 18. This seemingly quintessential Southern California teen’s identity unravels as he’s forced to choose one of his three fathers’ last names. A coming-of-age film that might get lost in its marijuana smoke and endless beers, What’s My Name Again? makes a point of referring to a time when things were slightly different. The sun, palm trees, and waves at high tide were all good, and there were no cell phones, only answering machines with telephones that used chords.
Refreshing and simple as the past appears, this is not the case for Bo, who finds out he was never adopted by one of his fathers, which his mother Karen Humpton (Allison Byrnes) tells him before his 18th birthday. With street humor and quick wit, Karen anchors a film that is fun to watch but sometimes a bit challenging to follow. Bo holds a swimming record, which is his ticket to college. He dates a wealthy girl, Alea Kai (Talia Mychael Blaney), who enjoys his world, and his best friend, Griffin Nelson (Nick Schultz), who has to come to terms with his sexual identity. Bo’s dads are all an archetype for a type of man. Yet not one is an appealing father figure, even though Scott Baxter (Theodore Newton), Robert Olfasson (Lucas Coleman), and Jimmy Humpton (Daniel Abraham Stevens) try. Thus revealing another level of identity crisis.
“…quintessential Southern California teen’s identity unravels as he’s forced to choose one of his three fathers’ last names.”
All feel Bo’s frustration because it is a question of identity that has to be corrected while also deciding who he is as a person, regardless of his name. Bo has to overcome a great deal of personal anger when choosing who he wants to be. To say he has a father complex is an understatement, which is true for his girlfriend’s father.
At his 18th birthday party, Bo, Alea, and Griffin attend a pool party of bizarre characters with booze lockers for birthday shots, a bunch of twisted sisters, and redneck relatives, including his grandparents, who drink martinis with hotdogs. Many funny lines and comments include a card game for “tits only.” With all three fathers in one place, Bo reminisces and wonders while the drinks flow and punches go wild. Fast-forward to finding themselves drunk and in a Tijuana jail, Bo, Alea, and Griffin deal with all their issues while deciding to bond no matter what happens in the future. Being in another country also plays upon the identity theme that Zender constructs.
What might be considered a raunchy beach world does have some merit as Bo goes forth with all the exciting advisement, deciding upon a name and swimming for his future. A decent soundtrack sets the tone for What’s My Name Again? and some great filming in the water, the ocean, sunsets, and other spots makes his locations alluring. Zender has some interesting points on life and identity, as his characters are appealing. It could be interesting to see what Zender does next and if Bo’s natural curly hair will reappear—it’s a good look.
For more information about What’s My Name Again?, visit the Other Brother Productions official website.
