Green Day’s new movie ‘Nimrods’ hits the road

Green Day members Tré Cool, from left, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt in the movie “Nimrods,” which the band also coproduced.

Green Day has entered the movie business with a film its members say was “inspired” by their early touring experiences living in a van.

The trouble with “Nimrods,” however, is it’s not about the East Bay punk band, but focuses instead on three teenagers and wannabe musicians who take a road trip from Kansas City to Los Angeles, mistakenly thinking they’re going to open for their heroes on New Year’s Eve.

The trio is perfectly described by the title, though, which is taken from the band’s 1997 double-platinum hit album. These guys are indeed idiots.

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Mason Thames, left, and Kylr Coffman in “Nimrods,” a film Green Day says was “inspired” by their early touring experiences living in a van.

Tommy (Mason Thames of 2021’s “The Black Phone” and 2025’s “How to Train Your Dragon”), Fred (Kylr Coffman) and Chad (Ryan Foust) are 17-year-old Midwesterners who pattern themselves after Green Day, forming a band called the Analog Dogs. When they meet their heroes — frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool — at a record store appearance, they present them with a demo tape.

“Nimrods”: Comedy. Starring Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman, Ryan Foust, Mckenna Grace, Fred Armisen and Jenna Fischer. Directed by Lee Kirk. (R. 102 minutes.) In theaters Friday, Aug. 14.

As a joke, Tommy’s brother Wayne (Keen Ruffalo) has a buddy call Tommy disguised as Tré Cool and asks him to open for Green Day at their Los Angeles show. Tommy falls for it, never bothering to ask about transportation, accommodations or terms of payment. He basically hangs up the phone and sets off with his bandmates for L.A.

What follows is a standard-issue road movie in which the boys get into all sorts of adventures, many of which have been depicted in better movies. Problems start at their first stop for gas. New to driving, they accidentally fill the tank with diesel fuel and, to add an exclamation point to their stupidity, drive off with the nozzle still in the tank.

Mason Thames, left, and McKenna Grace star in “Nimrods.”

Later, they abscond with an ice cream truck.

There’s also the predictable taking-mushrooms-for-the-first-time bit, always a classic. McKenna Grace shows up somewhere around Oklahoma as the requisite love interest, an aspiring punk singer who, despite being a super-together person, is interested in Tommy for some reason — she’s able to see through Tommy’s tomfoolery to his gentle soul, or something like that.

Meanwhile, Fred Armisen, who is scheduled to perform at the Castro Theatre on Oct. 26-28, has a nice cameo as a creepy motel owner.

All this time, the boys’ mothers, who include Jenna Fischer (“The Office”), are frantic with worry.

Ryan Foust, from left, Kylr Coffman and Mason Thames star as three 17-year-olds from Kansas City who drive cross country to see Green Day in “Nimrods.”

Of course, Green Day music runs all through “Nimrods,” capped off with some live concert footage once the boys make it to L.A., including “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” and many others.

Green Day coproduced “Nimrods” with Live Nation Productions, and one wonders if, instead of this silly fluff that could have been about fans of any band anywhere, the band had actually made a movie about their own early days as a band.

That would have been a road trip worth taking.