We all have points in our lives where we desperately need a mentor, or even just a true friend and confidant. Director Tracie Laymon met one such friend on social media, a man named Bob Laymon, believing they might have been related. As a tribute to her friend and chosen family, she wrote and directed Bob Trevino Likes It, adapted from her experience meeting Bob. It may not have seemed like it at the outset, but I think this film is one of the most important films of the past few years, because it is about genuine, unconditional human kindness.
Laymon’s stand-in is Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira), a young woman who works as a caretaker for her disabled friend Daphne (Lolo Spencer). Lily is constantly juggling taking care of Daphne and investing time and energy into helping her father Bob (French Stewart). That energy is wasted on the ungrateful, entirely unsympathetic Bob, and around the point that Lily has had enough, she finds a different Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo) when she tries to connect with her emotionally oblivious father on social media. Her friendship with the new Bob blossoms into something wonderful, and the film nicely skirts a lot of clichés of people misunderstanding their relationship, tossing those misunderstandings aside as quick, well-told jokes.
Lily and Bob actually have a lot in common for a young woman and a middle-aged man. They’ve both been through enormous trauma, which neither of them have fully healed from. Their shared healing is infectiously cathartic to watch, and it’s nicely tracked in both of their personal lives: Lily starts learning to stand up to her father, and Bob rekindles some of the fire in his marriage. I’m always happy to see Leguizamo in a role like this. I think he’s one of the most underrated actors we have, and his range is incredible. As written by Laymon and performed by Leguizamo, Bob is the perfect balance of down-to-earth and diplomatic. If he’s anything like the real Bob, Bob must really have been an extraordinary human being.
Something else the film balances perfectly is its depiction of subtle emotional abuse and manipulation by a parent. I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to deal with this issue in my own life, but I know plenty of people who do have strained relationships with their own parents, and this depiction of it feels incredibly accurate to what they’ve described. It seems like Lily can never win, and, to be clear, winning in her case would mean things between her and her father are no longer transactional. The way this storyline tracks throughout the film feels so honest in terms of how Lily’s father doesn’t give her an inch and makes everything about him. It also adds to the good feeling around the new Bob — he’s one of very few people in Lily’s life who treats her like a human being.
When I say this film is important because it’s about kindness, I really mean it. These are the kinds of biopics and/or based-on-true-stories films I wish there were more of. Everyday heroes really do deserve to be up on the big screen. I’m sure wide audiences will like Bob Trevino Likes It, and I’d like to see more movies like it. | George Napper
