Bob Trevino Likes It
When Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira, HBO's 'Euphoria') gets a text from her boyfriend meant for another woman, she takes her heartbreak to her dad, Bob (French Stewart, TV's '3rd Rock from the Sun'), but all he wants to do is talk about his own dating prospects at Shady Oaks. He then completely cuts off communication when Lily mistakenly attributes a son to his current date, causing her to question how many women he's seeing. Rejected once again, Lily turns to Facebook as a means to reach out to her dad, but finds a much more compassionate substitute with the same name when "Bob Trevino Likes It."
Laura's Review: B-
Writer/director Tracie Laymon's feature debut was inspired by her own online friendship with a stranger she found while searching for her father whose supportive messages were the small acts of kindness that can really make a difference in someone's life. Her screenplay lacks subtlety, Lily's dad's over the top selfish insensitivity borderline villainous, but her direction of Ferreira and John Leguizamo, so touching in how they affect each other's characters' lives, wins you over.
Kind and upbeat Lily, who works as a home aid for wheelchair bound Daphne (Lauren 'Lolo' Spencer, "Give Me Liberty"), is so bereft of any kind of a support system, she has her counselor intern sobbing by the end of her first session. But after friending Bob Trevino, his response to one of her innocuous posts cheers her beyond measure. She messages him, asking if they could possibly be related, leading both to talk about the loss of their mothers. When Daphne's toilet overflows and the two young women have no one to turn to, Lily asks the construction manager if he can help, leading to a face to face meeting where their senses of humor click, each taking a photo of the other's pained reaction to repair mishaps. Bob reacts strongly when he learns Lily has suggested he is her dad, but after the air is cleared, the two become closer, Bob beginning to make time for himself and his new friend.
Laymon slowly introduces us to Bob's life as well, the man working lots of hours as his wife Jeanie (Rachel Bay Jones, TV's 'George & Mandy's First Marriage') devotes herself to a scrapbooking hobby, one we will learn is rooted on the loss of a son in infanthood that the couple has never recovered from. Jeanie, who's been pushing Bob to make friends, is skeptical when she learns about Lily, but after seeing the young woman's Facebook posts is assured he's not being catfished. When Bob suggests he accompany her to a championship in Las Vegas, Jeanie reminds him that it is the same weekend as his beloved Perseid meteor shower, so Bob invites Lily on a camping trip with an unexpected surprise on the return home, the second Bob Trevino righting a wrong by the first.
Ferreira is so open-hearted as Lily and Leguizamo so decent and compassionate it is a joy to watch the two actors forge their on screen relationship. Also notable are Spencer and Jones, both brought into Lily's chosen family in unique and unexpected ways. The problem here is Stewart's character, whose Bob is so awful it is incomprehensible that Lily would tell him she loves him after his final and most egregious actions in the film's last act. There is nothing remotely likable about this man yet we are also expected to believe he could attract multiple women on dates (one of whom we witness he also treats reprehensibly, arguing over her dinner order when it is not included on his coupon).
"Bob Trevino Likes It" gives Barbie Ferreira a big screen launching pad portraying a young woman who learns how to surround herself with people who matter when the ones she's been dealt fail her. She's pretty irresistible.
Roadside Attractions releases "Bob Trevino Likes It" in select theaters on 3/21/25, opening wide on 3/28/25.
