Shovel Buddies 2016

At Sammy’s funeral, Alex Neustaedter as Jimmy, Anton Starkman as Lump, and Kian Lawley as Dan mourn their recently deceased best friend Philip Labes as Sammy, who died of leukemia. The somber ceremony layers grief with a tangle of guilt, as Dan grows jealous of Jimmy, blaming him for Sammy’s death, while Sammy’s family faces the hard reality of losing a son and tries to come to terms with the loss. Before long, they receive a surprising video of Sammy’s will—left on his phone—stating that he wants to be buried with his favorite football jersey. The moment shifts from mourning to a stubborn plan to honor Sammy’s last wishes, even as the idea meets resistance from Sammy’s parents, who doubt the authenticity of the video and question whether Sammy truly made it willingly.

Not giving up on fulfilling their friend’s final wish, Kate Bella Thorne joins the trio, stepping out of the family home to become part of a plan that feels almost reckless but deeply personal. The four followers head toward the funeral home where Sammy’s body is due to be cremated, wearing Sammy’s jersey as a makeshift pledge. They manage to retrieve the body, a move that triggers alarm: the funeral home owner discovers the theft and calls the police. The tension escalates quickly as the group then burgles a hardware store to obtain the digging tools they’ll need, drawing even more police attention. They press on, driven by a shared devotion to Sammy and his jersey, moving from possibility to a plan that steps into a dangerous gray area.

Their mission carries them up toward the hills to bury Sammy, but the soil proves stubborn, forcing them to improvise when their tools break. They pivot toward a more ambitious option—bury Sammy at the construction site of a school stadium—an idea born out of necessity and a hint of defiance. On the way, they stop at a liquor shop to grab supplies, and a police officer notices their uneasy presence, triggering a tense escape as they narrowly slip away and press onward. The journey strains their relationships as Dan confronts Jimmy on the road, arguing about Sammy’s memory and Jimmy’s role in what happened.

When a red traffic light flashes unexpectedly, Jimmy swerves to avoid it, the car tilting and rolling in a crash. The wreck leaves Dan carrying Sammy’s body and Lump with a hurt arm, and the close call reignites the emotional weight of their mission. Kate confronts Jimmy for what she perceives as his callousness in the wake of her brother’s death. Jimmy tries to reassure her that Sammy left everything he wanted to him, then heads off to find Dan to pull the plan back together. Dan, however, is unsettled by the idea of burying Sammy at the stadium and resists, until Jimmy persuades him to reconsider. In the end, Dan relents, and Jimmy is entrusted with carrying Sammy forward, while Dan walks on, perhaps searching for his own closure.

The group faces further trials when Sammy’s father interrogates Jimmy, testing the sincerity of their mission. The encounter ends with a cautious permission to continue honoring Sammy’s wishes, a small victory amid growing uncertainty. The four then steal an ambulance—used to treat Kate and Lump—adding a layer of danger to their pursuit. They regroup, catching up with Dan again, and together they return to the stadium construction site to complete the burial. In a final, quiet moment, they share their last words with Sammy, offering him the peace they’ve sought for so long. They stand under the pale light of dawn, weary yet resolved, as the sun begins to rise over the site.

As the morning light stretches across the horizon, Jimmy asks a simple, almost Robin Hood-like question to his friends, a line that crystallizes their fragile camaraderie and the gravity of what they’ve done: > How do you guys want to get home? The question lingers in the air, a reminder that their journey—born from grief and loyalty—has brought them to a place where memory and ritual meet necessity. Their vigil ends with a shared silence, a moment of quiet reflection, and the sense that Sammy’s jersey—now buried—has become a lasting symbol of their friendship, their stubborn hope to honor a life cut too short, and the complicated path they walked to find it.