Julian Glander’s vaporwave indie Boys Go to Jupiter is an exercise in procrastination. Experienced by the characters, but felt – with each painstaking step – by the audience.

In a Floridian suburb, high school dropout-turn-courier-for-hire Billy 5000 (voiced by Jack Corbett) has set a goal to save $5,000. Why $5,000? Because Billy 5000 supposes he could finally get his life moving with that much dough. He’s also discovered a currency glitch through his courier’s app that allows him to pick up a larger payday for each errand. This hustling is overlooked by his unambitious pals Freckles (voiced by Grace Kuhlenschmidt), Beatbox (voiced by Elsie Fisher), and lil’ Peanut (voiced by J.R. Phillips), but Billy 5000 continues to grind away despite their heckling. While on duty, when he isn’t having awkward chats with his neighbour, he makes deliveries for eccentric customers and vendors while trying to keep his eye on the prize. A personal mission that becomes more difficult when Billy 5000 is sidetracked by strange gelatinous creatures and his latest scheme that gets him in trouble with a local juice manufacturer.

While Boys Go to Jupiter appears nutty (and it is), Glander’s film is somewhat relatable in our current gig economy overpopulated by uncomfortable strangers working towards everchanging goals. Glander proposes that, while these customs of living are becoming more normal, they may not be the path to find happiness. Billy 5000 is seen as a wallflower who accepts his own cooked-up mediocrity, but finds relief when one of those slimy creatures attaches itself to him. While this turning point can be classified as a rote device, especially in the realm of science fiction, this gives Billy 5000 a motivation the audience cares about and works towards a satisfying albeit completely bonkers finale.

Unfortunately, so much of Boys Go to Jupiter relies on weird interactions, stammering banter, and droning monologues to send home how many people from this vaporwave reality are stuck in their own mire. Many of the side characters are voiced by interesting alt-comedians such as Janeane Garofalo, Chris Fleming, Sarah Sherman, and Joe Pera, but they don’t stand out. The production spends their comic relief towards adding deliberate discomfort to the film’s atmosphere. The genuine epiphanies are few and far between; like a discussion about how people buying lottery tickets don’t expect to win but rather use this window to rent out a fantasy.

Most of the time, Boys Go to Jupiter resembles a half-baked pilot for a lost Adult Swim series; further solidifying how this brand of humour can usually only be sustained for brief segments rather than a feature-length film. The exceptions exist, but there’s nothing exceptional about Boys Go to Jupiter.

**********

 Do You Tweet? Follow These Tweeple:

Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie