Plot
Simon, a reckless, on-the-lam punk rock singer, is kicked out of a clinical trial before completing it. Angry over not being paid in full, he goes home with Beth, who was also kicked out of the trial. He eats dinner with her family and begins to flirt with Beth's mother, Betty. Later, they are caught making out in the kitchen, where Betty accuses Simon of assaulting her, resulting in Beth's father and brother chasing Simon through the house. Simon jumps through the front window and, having already poured gasoline on the front bushes, sets the yard on fire.
Meanwhile, track athletes Derrick and Brandon bully Patty, an awkward girl who rides the bus to get to and from her job at the pet store. She eats dinner with her parents, Norman and Connie, and brother Kevin, unsuccessfully asking for permission to go to a rock show, headed by The Alliance with PSYOPS, with her friends, Sissy and Karen. After dinner, she puts on a tape from PSYOPS, her favorite band, and dances to the music before taking a nude photo of herself. For the past two years, Patty has been sending letters containing nude photos and lyrics of her original music to John Q, the lead singer of PSYOPS.
The following morning, Simon begins to sell drugs around town. A police officer spots him and gives chase. Simon ducks into the alley behind Patty's job, where she spots him. When the officer comes by asking about Simon, giving her a wanted poster for him, Patty says she hasn't seen anyone suspicious. After the officer leaves, Patty realizes she recognizes Simon from a college course on music appreciation. She tells him that she was just fired from the pet store by the owner, Mr. Hanley, who claims he fired her because of the minimum wage going up and he can do the job himself. Simon asks if she has a place to stay, and she takes him back to her house, where they flirt. Patty also lets slip that Kevin is adopted, but doesn't disclose that he doesn't know. Simon and Patty later eat dinner with the rest of her family. Simon, under the guise of being the son of missionaries just returned from Tanzania, convinces Norman and Connie to provide him a place to stay and insists he pray over the food. During his prayer, Simon tells Kevin he is adopted, ending the dinner. In her room, Patty tells Simon about her fascination with John Q, her "music boyfriend", and PSYOPS and asks him to take her to The Alliance and PSYOPS show. Realizing she is the one who has been sending him letters and that his band set up a show without his knowledge, Simon runs away. He confronts his band members for setting up the show, especially a show with The Alliance. After, he returns to Patty's house and smokes weed with Kevin on the roof, telling him he is too uptight and the weed will fix that.
The next day, Simon and Patty make plans to demand an overdue paycheck from Mr. Hanley. Derrick and Brandon come across them on the bus, call them both names, and beat Simon up at a bus stop. In a rage, Simon convinces a friend to lend him his truck. He goes to Patty's house to retrieve a dead cat from the front yard before tracking Derrick and Brandon down. Patty acts provocatively to throw them off as Simon knocks them unconscious, strips them, burns their tracksuits, and places the dead cat on their bodies. The smoke alerts the other track athletes, who find them as Simon and Patty make their escape and drive to the pet store. When they confront Mr. Hanley for hiring someone new in Patty's place, he reveals he fired her because she is "slow". They get the check from Mr. Hanley and eat lunch at a fast food restaurant. There, they kiss passionately. Simon and Patty spend the rest of the day on a date at an arcade. Simon breaks into a ticket machine to win Patty a desired stuffed teddy bear. They return to Patty's house and find Patty's family completely stoned.
The following day, Simon prevents Patty from going to a job interview to be a dish cleaner and instead takes her to the basement of his mother's house. He tells her that he is John Q and proves it by giving her back her postcards. He praises her songwriting abilities. They have sex, during which they are overheard by the maid. After, Simon builds a track and convinces Patty to perform one of her songs, "Watermelon". Her singing brings him to tears. Simon's family arrives home and invites the pair to dinner. When the family starts to criticize Simon and accuse him of being a drug addict, Patty confronts them, but they mistake her awkwardness for drug use. The family kicks them both out. When Patty asks Simon if he thinks she is retarded, he tells her to stop undervaluing herself because she is a "total punk rocker."
When Simon tells his music manager that he refuses to play with The Alliance, his band members decide to call the police and turn him in for a reward. Simon takes Patty on another date to a "secret" rock show. He sings one of her favorite songs, "Dinner in America," and dedicates the performance to her, his "music girlfriend". During the song, the police arrive to arrest Simon, interrupting the performance. Patty tells Simon to run, and he tries to escape, only to be beaten by the cops. As he is getting handcuffed, Patty tries to stand up for him to the police, insisting he didn't do anything. Patty helps Simon smoke a cigarette in the back of the police car, and asks him if he meant it when he called her his music girlfriend. Sissy and Karen notice Patty kissing him before he goes and ask if she wants to start a riot girl band.
Sometime later, Patty sits on the bus and reads a letter from Simon, who is in prison, that includes a nude photo of his. She punches a bully that calls her a retard before getting off the bus. She puts on a ski mask, and listens to the song she recorded with Simon.
Production
The concept for the film originated from two sketches by writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier. The first sketch, Kicks (2006), centered entirely around Simon's time volunteering for clinical trials to pay for his punk records. Rehmeier wrote the second sketch, Dinner in America, around 2009, and took a more comedic approach that focused on Patty's family as they ate dinner. When he saw they were not working independently, he combined the stories together sometime between 2013 and 2014, and the idea for the film came to fruition. Rehmeier said the film drew inspiration from the characters of Dawn Wiener in Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and the title character in Napoleon Dynamite (2004): "I wouldn't say they were really direct [influences]. I think really it came down to writing things that weren't going anywhere and just having like a lot of marinating over a long period of time." [1] [2]
The screenplay was noticed by filmmaker Danny Leiner who, initially interested in directing, noticed Rehmeier's vision and came on board the project as a producer. The ensemble cast, including leads Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs, was announced in September 2018. Filming took place in Detroit, Michigan. [3] Leiner died by the time production had concluded in 2018; the film is dedicated to his memory. Ben Stiller and Nicky Weinstock are credited in the end credits as producers as well. Leiner said he was thankful for their guidance, especially since Weinstock was on set the entire time. Skeggs, who plays Patty, said musician Ezra Furman was a major inspiration for her performance. Original songs for the film were constructed ahead of filming during pre-production. The score was composed by John Swihart. [1] [2]
