Jim Gaffigan has made his supper via supporting film roles and as a go-to guy in a variety of sitcoms, including The Ellen Show. He’s front and center in this familiarly plotted but diverting little feature, however — a road movie about a quartet of thirtysomething guys who attempt to reclaim some of their youthful mojo with an annual trek to take in as many high school hockey games as possible.



Directed by David Fleer, Erik Moe and Peter Rudy (the latter two also co-writers), No Sleep ’til Madison is set in Midwest (this allows for frequent use of the word Sheboygan), and stars Gaffigan stars as 30-year-old Owen Fenby, the enthusiastic and compulsive planner of the group. Owen loves his girlfriend Loretta (Molly Glynn Hammond), but he loves high school hockey more. So, forced to choose between his girlfriend and his annual pilgrimage to the Wisconsin High School Hockey Tournament, he picks the latter. Accompanied by 18-year-old videographer/protégé, Dave (Ian Brennan), Owen meets up with three former teammates who now live out of state. There’s Greg (T.J. Jagodowski, of the ubiquitous Sonic commercials), who’s bored with married life with his wife Beth (Rebekah Louise Smith). There’s Tommy (Michael Gilio), also married, who sings karaoke in French to help impress some ladies. And then there’s Vern (Jed Resnik), a stocky St. Louis district attorney who suffers from gout, and is the requisite single guy in the group.

The trip, unfolding in a recently procured laundry truck, gets off to an inauspicious beginning (the T-shirts that Owen ordered read, “No Sheep ’Til Madison”), and proceeds through a wide array of obstacles as the guys careen from one location to another. Crises both personal and professional infect the trip (no gay jokes or bird crap, though, unlike Wild Hogs), and, worst of all, a mysterious black pickup truck seems to be stalking them. Finally, one by one, friends drop out, leaving Owen to face some hard truths about his obsession and arrested development.

The story here is one of a comfortable template, certainly, but what makes the film so pleasant is the relaxed chemistry between all of the guys. If the direction is sometimes a bit slipshod, and the character of Dave seemingly chiefly on hand to allow the filmmakers to cheat a bit and slip back and forth between film and digital video, one doesn’t mind too much because of the warm glow that the main actors’ rapport creates. It’s enough to make you want to set out on a roadie with your old high school chums… and also enough to remind you why that might not be such a good idea.

Presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, with a Dolby 2.0 AC3 stereo soundtrack, No Sleep ’Til Madison comes housed in a regular Amray case, and with an engaging audio commentary track from the directors. Other bonus materials include 15 minutes of cast audition tapes and an extremely cursory behind-the-scenes clip (that would be 70 seconds worth of material) that actually includes its own credited director! The randomly strung together footage is chiefly just a bunch of on-set cutting up, a good bit of it with people kidding Gaffigan about his weight. For more information, click here. B- (Movie) C+ (Disc)