Don Reviews "Tow"

I will say it: there have been nights where I have slept in my car.  Most recently, I was driving in multi-state trip and at one point, it was just easier for me to pull over a rest stop and catch a couple winks than trying to find a hotel.  Looking back, I find it amazing how people have to call their car their home, and in Tow, this is the center of a woman’s world.

Stephane Laing (Irreplaceable You), this film stars Rose Byrne, Dominic Sessa, Demi Lovato, Octavia Spencer, and Corbin Bernsen and is based on the true story of Amanda Ogle (Byrne), who has fallen on hard times and lives in her car.  One day her car is taken and ends up in a towing company’s impound yard, and when Rose starts the process to get her car back, the company resists over and over unless she pays the fees to get the car back as the fees grow by the day, which may not be legal.  With the help of friends in the shelter she winds up in and a lawyer from a local non-profit (Sessa), she takes on the tow company with all she’s got.

Even though the visual style is somewhat dark in certain scenes, that compliments the film nicely.  Even though the story is set in Seattle, it was filmed in New Jersey but does a good job in making the set locals and scenery look like Seattle and the poor neighborhoods, which enhances the empathy towards Amanda’s situation.  The cast does fine overall with Byrne as the lead as a woman whose unresponsible actions end up hurting the relationships of the people who are friends and family members.

At a little over one hundred minutes, maybe fifteen minutes of the film could have been cut but it is good overall.   I know this is based on true events, but I had a hard time caring for Amanda’s plight due to her irresponsible choices.  I know that Amanda was wronged, but her choices do end up in a “reaping what you sow” situation.  There are good points to Tow, and I did not hate or love it, so I will recommend it on a home streaming service.