This is what you the term Hidden Gem was made for . Originally a short , this was written , directed and acted by the brilliant Jim Cummings and if it wasn't a film from two years ago it would be one of my favourites of 2020.

Jim Cummings stars as a police officer from Texas who deals with the death of his mother while giving a heartfelt eulogy at her funeral. Inspired by the music of singer-songwriter, Bruce Springsteen.

There have been many good films ( and bad) about someone having a melt down. It's kind of heartening In a sick way to see it happening to someone else and not yourself but this melt down is unlike any other I've seen on screen.

It's funny and sad at the same time and the performance from Jim Cummings it amazing . Jim Armand is a man who's life is collapsing around him. He's very angry but he's not a bad guy , in fact he's a nice guy , so subsequently his anger is almost apologetic. Cumming's has written some wonderful dialogue here and because he's acting it as well , he absolutely nails it. The emotional scenes are funny and cringeworthy and you can't help but root for Jim.

The first ten minutes is an eulogy to his mother at her funeral and it's breathtakingly brilliant . Thankfully I don't go to many funerals but if I did , I want them to be as entertaining as this one!

Highly Recommended

THUNDER ROAD begins at a funeral. Actor/director/writer Jim Cummings plays Officer Jim, a cop who comes to the front of the church to eulogize his mother. This scene is one of the most amazing and unexpected scenes I've ever watched. In a few minutes, Officer Jim veers wildy from moments of light humor while recollecting his mom, to unstoppable tears, to deeply inappropriate dancing to, frankly, a total, emotional breakdown unlike any you've seen. This guy just looses his cool, but in a way that feels unique and organic. He's all over the place, and we laugh and then we're just appalled for him. It feels real and specific and is very moving and yet uncomfortably laughable at the same time. I've not seen anything quite like it. (Apparently, this scene was originally a short film Cummings made and used to scrounge up enough funding to stretch this character's experiences into a feature film.)

The scene is probably the best thing in the movie, as we move out of the church and spend more time with Jim and, in particular, his young daughter. The girl's mother is a mess...Jim cares for her and is deeply angry at her at the same time. In fact, Jim is subject to fits of rage. He is clearly carrying around a lot of grief and confusion, and he doesn't really have an outlet or anyone to "talk to" about it. He's a proud man who doesn't want to admit he's hurting. His temper is sometimes comical and sometimes terrifying. He is, in short, a mess. But you've never seen a character quite like this or a mess quite like it either. Cummings, who is not necessarily the most gifted actor ever, has a quality about him that I've not really seen in another "star." We can laugh with him and at him, and be infuriated by him yet root for him deeply. His brand of "messed-up-ness" is singular and we feel like we're seeing a real person break down.

But, despite the mess that Jim has become, the result of the movie (and it's string of odd incidents) is a feeling of hope and uplift. Life is never going to be perfect, far from it...but perhaps Jim learns to appreciate the little joys and victories it brings. We suspect he'll always be a bit of a mess, but we also see that he might be pulling his act together at least a little.

The film will be off-putting to some. It's low budget, and that often shows. It swings wildly in tone, often within scenes. It's tough to describe the emotional impact (is it a comedy with some drama, or a drama with some comedy, or is it even a drama that doesn't realize how silly much of it is?). Cummings has made one other film (THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW) that also plays around with similar themes of anger and inchoate reaching for manly self-improvement. If you can manage it, I'd suggest a mini-film festival, with THUNDER ROAD first and then SNOW HOLLOW. While the film(s) are far from perfect, the best thing I can say is that I still can't wait to see what Cummings comes up with next. Unique!

(PS: If you have the blu ray, watch the extras about how the film was funded. Crazy stuff!)

"Thunder Road" had been sitting on my Netflix queue for quite a while. Then I saw that it was one of the options on a flight from Phoenix to Chicago. I didn't end up having time to watch the whole thing, but I just wanted to see what kind of movie it was, so I watched the first few minutes. Anyone who's seen the film knows what those first 10 minutes or so are like, and probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that I immediately moved it to the top of my queue so that I could see the whole thing.

"Thunder Road" may seem simple; it's practically a one-man show. But it is quietly astonishing in the way it's written and especially acted by Jim Cummings. He plays a man at a crisis point in his life, trying to hang on to a daughter during a nasty divorce while watching his career as a police officer crumble due to his unhinged behavior. He's a man who means well and wants to do right by himself and those around him, but can't control himself from messing up in both small and major ways. The film is hilarious, but it always walks that knife edge between funny and uncomfortable. This kind of dark humor is a tight rope act to pull off, but Cummings is expert at it, and I was absolutely fascinated by him and his performance. I didn't really want the movie to end, because I wanted to keep on spending time with this guy, even though he's exhausting to be with. That's the sign of a truly gifted actor.

You know, lately there has been so much complaining about white males and how everything has always been told through a white male perspective and that now it's time for women and people of color to take the stage and tell their stories. I embrace all stories and love seeing the world through the point of view of people who are very different from me. But "Thunder Road" is an example of how stories about and told by white men can still be interesting too, and we'd be making a mistake as a culture to just outright decide that white men's stories are no longer worth listening to just because we've been hearing them for so long.

Grade: A+