Straight Through Crew (2025), A Mind-Bending Look At Going Nowhere

Many view the transition from school into the working world as a relatively straightforward process, almost a singular event. The reality is that, for many of us, it’s a confusing, grueling, depressing, kick in the face that some people never leave. Rather than getting a job, settling down, starting a family, all the cliches and expectations of “adulting,” many of us just wander listlessly through life, clinging to the things and people that feel the safest and the most familiar. David Campion’s Straight Through Crew (2025) is a thought-provoking examination of that grey area between youth and adulthood (in its purest form), as well as the destructive yet alluring crutch of drugs and alcohol we use to get through it.

The story largely revolves around Aden (Charles Craddock), who has visions of himself wandering through a forest, catching glimpses of a woman disappearing behind the trees. He wakes up in a bathtub to find his pants soiled and his head pounding from the night before. His girlfriend, Fran (Georgia MacLeod), asks him to pick her up from work, and he gives a reluctant thumbs-up. 

From here, we encounter various members of the “crew,” including Jamie (Jessica Pearce), Aden’s ex, who’s returning home from London for the holidays. Her homecoming introduces us to the small town of Ludgershall, where the rest of their friend group remains. 

Deanna (Conchita Mbuyambo) and Lisane (Laura Hall) welcome Jamie back to Ludgershall, while Aden and Richie (Jason Rosato) sit in a car in the woods somewhere, smoking weed, recovering from the night before, and preparing to score some “gear” for the night’s Christmas Eve festivities. Aden and Jamie are both made aware of the other’s presence through the grapevine, and neither seems eager for the reunion. 

Christmas Eve festivities ensue, gear is secured, and just about everybody in the crew proceeds to get smashed on a variety of substances. As appears to be customary, Aden does too much of just about everything he can get his hands on, requiring Richie and the rest of the group to track him down. 

Straight Through Crew is a timely examination of the current crop of in-betweeners, which, to me, is anyone in their mid-20s and 30s. This particular group has stayed in the safety of Ludgershall, despite feeling bored, directionless, and compelled to drown their sorrows away at every chance. Jamie was the one who found the courage to “escape,” only to discover that London (and adulthood) was not all it was cracked up to be. 

Tensions heighten as the alcohol and drugs flow freely, and old love is rekindled, albeit briefly. Naturally, the drugs and alcohol only keep boredom away for so long, and the comedown makes everyone, particularly Aden, feel worse than before. 

Many aspects of the film are highly reminiscent of Trainspotting (1996). In my view, there’s just about no higher praise I can give to a film. A bunch of restless 20-somethings and 30-somethings feel like they have nothing better to do than get wasted, but it comes at a cost. Just like Spud, Aden shits himself after too much partying. Just like Mark Renton, Aden gets too high and comes dangerously close to overdosing. Funnily enough, writer/director David Campion even makes an appearance as Aden’s drug dealer, much like Irvine Welsh appeared as the drug dealer in Trainspotting. 

Visually, Director of Photography Tom O’Keefe also strikes a chord that lands somewhere between Danny Boyle’s lifeless depiction of Scotland in Trainspotting and Gaspar Noé’s drug-fueled, kaleidoscopic vision of Tokyo in Enter the Void (2009). 

It would be unfair only to compare Straight Through Crew to other films, especially films with much larger budgets. Straight Through Crew is certainly an indie film, but the budget doesn’t hold it back like I’ve seen with so many other films as of late. I was never taken out of the film by jarring cuts, poor writing, badly-delivered lines, or amateur camera work. I’m happy to say that it was quite the opposite.

David Campion, and his cast and crew, produced something truly remarkable with this film. An ode to feckless addiction, with characters who are overwhelmed by their emotions and yet feel nothing. Superb acting, writing, editing, and visual effects make this piecemeal narrative so engaging that I would recommend it to anyone with a love for the art of filmmaking.

The story moves through a single day in the lives of small-town Brits, yearning for something more out of this world. There are some revelations, though I don’t get the impression that these characters will change. In fact, it’s pretty clear that they won’t alter their behavior in any meaningful way, at least not anytime soon. They’ve come face-to-face with their own mortality, the arduous act of existing, knowing all the while that someday, they’ll all be in the ground. The “eternal sleep,” as Fran calls it. 

It would be easy for some to write Straight Through Crew off as directionless or meaningless, but just like every great film that focuses on heavy substance abuse, that’s kind of the point. Life is directionless, life is meaningless, until we give it direction and meaning. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes, the fear of even trying is enough that it’s easier to just pop a pill, crack open a beer, and get numb. The film shows the inevitable consequences of these choices, but it also shows why and how it’s so easy to fall into them. 

That’s why I think David Campion has hit on something so basic to our nature, particularly in the 21st century. Young people, and people entering that horrible time between youth and adulthood, when all the questions are still left unanswered, are all so bored, tired, and indifferent that to just feel chemically “good,” even for a moment, is worth wasting away one’s life. It’s the ultimate existential question of our times: If everything is so fucked up, why not get fucked up?

Straight Through Crew (2025) Movie Rating: ★★★★½ out of 5

If you’d like to watch Straight Through Crew (2025), the film is currently available to rent or purchase via Amazon US or UK. You can also follow the film’s production company on Instagram @blackmathpictures. For more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film homepage!