Shovel Buddies

Plot

Jimmy (Neustaedter), his brother Lump (Starkman), and Dan (Lawley) mourn their recently deceased best friend Sammy (Labes) from leukemia. At Sammy's funeral, however, Dan becomes jealous of Jimmy, blaming him for his death and Sammy's family wants his body to be cremated. The three receive a video of Sammy's will and testament from his phone, saying that he wants to be buried with his favorite football jersey (#86), but the video disappears when it is finished and cannot be recovered. They notify them of their son's final will, but the parents did not believe that Sammy made the video willingly.

Not giving up on fulfilling their best friend's will, Sammy's sister, Kate (Thorne) sneaks out of her house to team up with the three and they head to the funeral house where Sammy is waiting to be cremated. They wear his jersey and retrieve Sammy's body just as the funeral house owner approaches and discover that the body was stolen and was subsequently alerted by the police. Next, they loot the hardware store to retrieve the digging tools, attracting the police again. The four head up to the hills to bury him, but because the soil is rough, the tools break, so they decide to bury at the school's stadium construction site. The four stop at the liquor shop to buy some food to eat, but the police officer, who stops by, inadvertently comes their way and suspecting them as the ones responsible for the events in the funeral home and the hardware store, but they manage to escape and evade the police officer. While on the road, Dan confronts Jimmy about Sammy. When they suddenly see the red light flashing, Jimmy swerves the car to avoid the intersection, causing the car to flip. Recovering from the wreck, Dan walks out carrying Sammy and Lump's arm is badly injured. Kate confronts Jimmy for ignoring her after her brother's death. Jimmy convinces her that Sammy left everything that he wanted to him and goes to find Dan to retrieve Sammy. However, Dan changes his mind, saying that he doesn't want to bury him at the stadium. After persuading Dan, he lets Jimmy carry Sammy and continues walking alone.

After inadvertently encountering some gangsters on the street, Sammy's father and police officer Ted Hanes appears and detain Jimmy at his car. There, Ted confronts Jimmy about his idea and Jimmy convinces his father that he left his will to him. Jimmy finally allows him to follow his son's wishes and Ted distracts the medical officers at the wreck site, allowing Sammy to steal the ambulance treating Kate and Lump. They catch Dan and they head to the stadium construction site. In the process, Lump almost drowns while they pass through the mud pit but they manage to rescue him. The four say their last words to Sammy before they finally bury Sammy down the pit in peace. They rest solemnly until sunrise and Jimmy asks them "How do you guys want to get home?"

Cast

Production

On March 24, 2015, it was announced AwesomenessTV had acquired the script of the film which was on the 2013 blacklist. On June 1, 2015 it was announced Bella Thorne had join the cast alongside Kian Lawley, Alex Neustaedter, Anton Starkman, James C. Burns and Philip Labes.

Filming

Principal photography began on June 1, 2015 and ended on June 22, 2015.

Release

The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 14, 2016. The film is scheduled to have a digital release on October 11, 2016.