At 75 minutes, this might have been a stream-of-consciousness road-trip classic; at 100 minutes, it's still a wonderfully bizarre little ride. Michael Cera plays Jamie, an American who has come to Chile for the express purpose of ingesting the mescaline-charged San Pedro cactus. Joining the journey with a trio of local brothers is another American, Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffman), a hippie chick Jamie impulsively invites (and instantly regrets inviting). Cera's tightly-wound persona gets a great twist as he captures a guy so intensely focused on his mind-expanding adventure that he treats all the people around him like crap, while the New Age-y earth mama Hoffman is playing moves deftly from caricature to character. The episodic adventures do eventually start to over-stay their welcome, and the shifts from broad comedy to earnest drama are at times jarring. But it actually proves to be pretty perceptive about a certain brand of youthful narcissism dressed up as exploration. (Scott Renshaw)
