Tow Movie Review

This film is based on an incredibly sad, true story. ​Upon sitting down to watch, you’re given a shot of reality you may not have been aware of. “It’s estimated that there are between one and three million ‘vehicular residents’ across the country on any given night.” “Tow” is the story of one such individual and how she’s treated by the system.

Her name is Amanda Ogle, played pluckily by Rose Byrne. She’s a bright woman, so she’s not about to let people take advantage of her without a fight. They do try quite often. She has her own car to live in, so she doesn’t consider herself homeless. We see her stage her car for sleeping in. It’s quite the ritual. She covers the windows with cardboard so there’s no peeking in, and to better secure the doors, she puts bungee cords from one door to the other so no one can open one without her being aware.

Her car means a lot to her. It’s where she has the few remaining things in her life that are truly hers. No one can tell her what to have and not to have, and they’re relatively secure. What does get in her way of complete happiness is that someone can tell her where she can and can’t park to sleep. She’s attempting to get a job as a vet tech when her car is towed. Almost everything in her world was just taken away. To make matters worse, she gets a bill for towing and storage; a bill so outlandish, there’s no way she, even with a good job, could afford to pay. She feels it’s theft and is going to court to sue them.

She’s not liking sleeping on a park bench that “belongs” to someone who wants to charge her a three-dollar bench tax. So, she stays at a woman’s “High Bar” shelter. It’s run by Barb (Octavia Spencer), who enforces strict rules everyone must follow. Amanda isn’t always interested in Barb’s rules.

Amanda has a daughter named Avery, played by Elsie Fisher from Bo Burnham’s movie “Eighth Grade.” She means the world to her. Having a car helps Amanda stay connected to Avery. She has joint custody of her daughter, but since she’s so down and out, letting her dad take her with him to Utah is something Avery doesn’t let Amanda live down. It means the car is the only way she can drive to work and eventually get money to go see her and maybe get off the sh*t list. Speaking of jobs, she was hired for the job she was interviewing for when the car was stolen. Unfortunately, the job is to go and round up dogs for the clinic. Can’t do that without that car.

After the theft, Amanda’s doing okay on her own, legally speaking, but needs a little help, which she gets from a young lawyer named Kevin, played by Dominic Sessa of “The Holdovers.” He’s a bit underutilized. Though he aids her and gets her where she needs to be in the end, he’s seen as the help in her eyes.

“Tow” has somewhat of a predictable storyline, with some weak caricatures, especially the owner of the towing company, but where the movie goes right gives you all the reason you need to make sure you see the thing. Rose Byrne’s performance should also motivate you to add this to your list. She makes the few cliches you’re forced to endure worth every moment. There are a lot of good reasons to see this, but nothing pulls focus from the main subject: that 1991 Toyota Camry and the woman who loves her.