"Bob Trevino Likes It"

  ☆☆☆☆½ 

A few years ago, as streaming movies became ubiquitous after the pandemic and movie theaters began suffering in ways they haven't suffered since the mid-1960s, I made a decision not to review movies I hadn't seen in the cinema. I enjoy staying home and watching a movie as much as anyone else, but I've also developed a strong belief that there's something fundamentally different about watching a film for the first time on the big screen and watching it at home.

I'm breaking my rule.

Ten or 15 years ago, a movie like Bob Trevino Likes It would have been pretty easy to find in theaters, particularly in a city like Los Angeles, where I live. If Bob Trevino Likes It actually saw the light of a single movie screen, I'm not aware of it. That speaks volumes about the state of the industry, because Bob Trevino Likes It is a remarkable film, a movie so charming and likable and ultimately so overwhelmingly moving that it doesn't just deserve to find a bigger audience — it has to find a bigger audience.

You need to see this movie.

It begins inauspiciously enough. For twenty minutes or so, it seems like it might be nothing more than an indie cringe comedy about a 25-year-old woman who has trouble finding her place in the world, who gets dumped and makes her psychologist cry and has a terrible father and a life that seems to be going nowhere. An early scene between this woman — whose name is Lily Trevino and who is played by Barbie Ferreira in one of the most endearing performances of the year or, more likely, the decade — her father Bob (French Stewart) and a bemused single 60-year-old woman, will make you think you know the direction this movie is going.

You don't.

It's best not to say anything more, except that Lily Trevino crosses paths with another man named Bob Trevino, played by John Leguizamo, and things begin to change for both of them.

Watch closely and you'll see some careful foreshadowing about what the unexpected things that happen in the movie's final act, but the beauty of Bob Trevino Likes It is that it's all unexpected. In many ways it reminds me of The Station Agent one of the great movies of the first decade of the 21st century, in that it is about people who discover that they aren't whole. They've gotten so used to thinking they are that when they find someone else who isn't whole they are surprised because it's like looking in the mirror and being sad about it.

Leguizamo, Ferreira and, in a tricky and almost thankless role, Rachel Bay Jones. As much as the whole cast stunned me, Jones left the biggest impression, because her character — the wife of Leguizamo's Bob Trevino — cannot find ways to say what she thinks and feels and wants. I read a couple of reviews that criticized Jones for her performance, but I thought it was the film's secret weapon, especially when ...

Never mind. Don't worry about what will or won't happen in Bob Trevino Likes It. And be prepared, because it's not a perfect movie. Some bits never quite match up, some storylines feel frustratingly vague, and yet its minor flaws make it imperfectly wonderful. Just like the two people at its center.

If you're still not sure, just try it. Trust me. Really. I'm so confident, I promise to give you your money back if you don't like it. I don't think there's a chance I'd need to pay out.

Viewed May 31, 2025 — Amazon Prime