Charles Manson is probably the last person you’d expect a Duplass Brothers Production to feature a story around. While the title suggests that the famous cult leader (or his “family”) may be the main focal point, writer and director J. Davis simply uses him as the glue that holds together the misadventures of two out of touch brothers. And turns out this vacation is a lot more fun and less scary than it sounds.

This sibling story has a familiar setup, one that’s not far off from the Duplass brothers film Jeff, Who Lives At Home; Nick (Jay Duplass) is an uptight successful lawyer with a wife and kid, while his brother Conrad (Linas Phillips) is a long-haired, easygoing slacker. They haven’t spoken with each other since Nick’s wedding day and because Conrad has always been the black sheep of the family, he didn’t even attend their father’s funeral. Which makes it all the more surprising when Conrad decides to show up unexpectedly at Nick’s doorstep.

Nick and his wife don’t bat an eye when Conrad informs them he just quit his job and sold off of his possesses to start working for a non-profit environmental organization. It sounds exactly like what the free-spirited brother would do. Nick is more concerned that his brother has decided to give up on his dreams of becoming an artist, not that it’s much of a surprise, but it was the only thing Conrad ever stuck with until now.

While in town for just a few days, Conrad reveals his latest obsession, Charles Manson. This new craze baffles Nick, who didn’t notice his brother wearing a Manson t-shirt or carrying around a copy of “Helter Skelter.” Or that Conrad looks eerily similar to Manson with his long parted hair and full beard. Yet despite these realizations, Conrad still manages to convince his brother (with a disturbing amount of giddiness) to tour around to a bunch of Mason Family sites.

What starts as a sneaky journey into the former home of the LaBianca’s, ends in a wild goose chase from various “clues” uncovered along the way. The film works best when the two brothers are busy working on a mission. But when the action subsides between chases and the characters are forced to mingle, the dialog can feel a bit dry and unnatural.

Throughout Manson Family Vacation, Davis uses clips of old interview footage of Charles Manson for transitions between scenes. At first these seem to be shown to tie Manson into the story and to give quick background information for anyone unfamiliar with the cult leader. But as the film progresses you begin to realize just how relevant the clips are to what’s happening onscreen. For example, when Manson blames lack of parenting for how he acts, you can’t help but wonder if the same holds true for Conrad.

There are times when this feels like an early Duplass brothers film, especially considering the sibling dynamic story. After all, they are masters of the subject with films like The Puffy Chair (my personal favorite), The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, Jeff…, and more recently with their HBO show Togetherness. The film even has a Duplass look to it, filled with constant camera movements (though there are no quick zooms). However, a key missing quality is an improvised script. Manson Family Vacation may have benefited from having a loosened structure and organic dialog.

Up until the end, Manson Family Vacation plays out like a lot of other estranged brothers stories we’ve seen many times in other indie films. But Davis adds a slight twist (don’t think too hard, it’s not that difficult to predict) to make the whole thing feel fresh and entertaining. Phillips is the perfect choice for the role, especially with his unkempt look and easy to forgive personality, you find yourself rooting from him even during his sketchiest of moments. It’s nice to see the other Duplass brother spend more time in front of the camera, even if Jay doesn’t quite have the effortless quality of his brother Mark. There may be a few missteps along the way, but the fast pace of Manson Family Vacation keeps everything moving towards its satisfying conclusion.

Manson Family Vacation will be available on iTunes & Digital VOD on October 6th, 2015 and arriving to Netflix on October 27th, 2015.

Bass Ackwards follows a man named Linas on his cross-country journey on trying to figure his life out. Linas Philips is not only the star in the indie film but he also directed and co-wrote the script. It is hard to call Bass Ackwards a comedy, although there are a few scenes that are worth a chuckle, it is more of an adventure drama.

It starts off with Linas in a relationship that is less than perfect. It is clear that he likes her but unfortunately for him, she is already in another relationship. As if that were not bad enough, the friend he is staying with seems to be fed up with him. Evident that the living situation is far from ideal, he seeks to start over by making a cross-country trip to New York.

The main purpose of Bass Ackwards is Linas searching for affection and attention which is reiterated throughout the film. This is first seen through his girlfriend in the beginning then through his temporary job working with llamas. He demands rhetorically that the llama must say it loves him before feeding it. All he wants is love and to the point of near suicide.

Although I understand the film is about the journey, it gets repetitive to see the same basic shot of the VW van he is in coasting along the interstate over and over. They add up to be a lot of what you see during his trip. Cutting out at least half of those cuts may have kept Bass Ackwards more interesting.

Another thing that bothered me a little bit was when he called his dad from his cell phone to pull a prank on him, his dad did not seem to know who it was. I know it is a small deal but obviously his dad’s cell phone would have recognized the number, as it did several times later.

The film briefly picks up when he wakes up from sleeping in his van to a man tapping on his window. The man named Jim (Jim Fletcher) asks if he could come in and sit in the front seat. He obliges and the two become fairly close as he allows his new friend along on the trip.

That character had potential and could have really taken the story in a completely different direction but it was a little short lived. Jim leaves Linas after the two seemed to have bonded well. Linas does run into a couple minor issues after that, mostly running out of gas multiple times before finally running into Jim again near the end.

Towards the very end Linas, now reunited with Jim again, runs into his girlfriend he had left behind. He is ultimately forced between his new-found friend Jim or his old girlfriend. It is then we see if the journey across the country has helped him get over her or if it has made him miss her even more.

I am always impressed when the main actor is also the director and in this case, also a co-writer. However, even with this admiration, I still cannot recommend this film to most. The camera work is well done and the acting was not poor but this indie film as a whole was lackluster. It was an adventure that at times could have went somewhere great but ended up being mostly dull.