Humboldt County (film)

Humboldt County is a 2008 comedy/drama film by Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs. It stars Jeremy Strong, Fairuza Balk, Frances Conroy, Madison Davenport, Brad Dourif, Chris Messina and Peter Bogdanovich. The film made its debut at SXSW on March 7, 2008. It was picked up by Magnolia Pictures and was released on September 26, 2008.

Plot

Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong) is an overachieving medical student at UCLA. He is given failing grades on his final exam by his professor, who also happens to be his father (Peter Bogdanovich). Unable to graduate, he becomes bitter and disillusioned. He then meets up with the actress who played the part of his patient in his final exam, the free-spirited part time jazz singer Bogart (Fairuza Balk). The two of them go back to her apartment after a night at a jazz club and have casual sex. Afterwards she gets up to go for a drive and asks Peter if he'd like to come, to which he agrees. The two of them drive north through the night and Peter eventually dozes off. When he wakes up, he finds that Bogart has driven all the way to Humboldt County. It is here that he meets her family. Jack (Brad Dourif) and Rosie (Frances Conroy) took her in when her family abandoned her, and they became her surrogate parents. He also meets Max (Chris Messina), Jack and Rosie's son and Charity (Madison Davenport), Max's daughter.