Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | September 14, 2026
The chances are high that you’ve heard a Caleb Hearon joke recently. He’s inescapably popular in podcasts and on social media, and he made an impression in an all-too-brief supporting role in The Devil Wears Prada 2. His savvy use of the internet, coupled with his highly appealing brand of snark meets sweet has helped him become one to watch. Those unfamiliar with his life story, which he shares frequently in his comedy, may be surprised to see him make the leap to leading man with a film like Trash Mountain. Even his fans may be taken aback by the shift. Who knew that the guy who left Ziwe speechless was eager to make the next Little Miss Sunshine?
Gavin has a pretty sweet life in Chicago, and he’s reluctant to leave it behind when he finds out about his father’s death. Dragged back to his small Missouri hometown, he and his half-sister Abbi (Zooey Deschanel) are tasked with sorting out their dad’s affairs. Easier said than done when you’re the kid of a hoarder.
Many of the beats of Trash Mountain will get a laugh of recognition from those who watched Hearon’s recent HBO special, Model Comedian: the complicated feelings of being the child of a man with mental health struggles; the nightmarish bureaucracy of trying to declare someone dead when you have a death certificate but not their Social Security number; the inappropriate cry of joy when Gavin and Abbi find another of their dad’s many guns amid the wreckage of his life. The metaphor of sorting through booth youor literal and emotional trash would probably be too on the nose had it not really happened to Hearon, but he and director Kris Rey are careful not to lay it on too thick.
It’s not tough to see why Gavin, a gay man who hates guns, God, and nostalgia, has little patience for his hometown. The local pastor is a former cop who took over the funeral parlour for maximum vertical integration profits. Trucks with Trump decals take up the road. Smartly, though, the film does not make this place a ceaseless hellhole or a confirmation of all of Gavin’s cynical asides. It’s still the town that Abbi raises her kids in, having made a content life with her delightful husband (Kyle Marvin.) Gavin’s Grindr hookup (Jaboukie Young-White) is a city guy who has fallen hard for rural life in spite of its problems (although it probably helps that he has the most gorgeous house in the film.) Some people are snide to him, but most are just well-meaning and polite, if a touch dunderheaded. Hearon, who co-wrote the script, has probably seen enough “coastal elites tackle the Midwest” stories to know what not to do. As Gavin’s grandmother (Jacki Weaver) chastises him at one point, “Caring the least does not make you the smartest.”
As an actor, Hearon is on less steady ground. He’s at his most comfortable with the jokes and banter with Deschanel, keeping up his shield lest he feel too much, but the emotional beats where he needs to convey that hurt and regret feel a touch out of reach of his range. Fortunately, he has Zooey Deschanel to anchor him. Seriously, how nice to see Deschanel again. Adorkable jokes aside, the New Girl star has always had a warm screen presence that was seldom utilised to its full potential. Here, as Abbi, she has great chemistry with Hearon and provides a gentle grounding force to his armour of snark. Jacki Weaver is clearly having a lot of fun as the siblings’ dramatic grandmother, always wailing like a wounded animal, but it often feels like she’s in another, far broader, film.
Hearon’s comedy is often earnest, if frequently punctured by a quippy aside or dark twist. Much of his stand-up special is about the healing power of community and becoming comfortable in your own skin after years of experiencing the opposite. So, it’s not as though Trash Mountain is a total 180 from his style, but it was unexpected to see how decidedly retro it feels in this context. Between the sibling dynamic, the melancholy tone, and an unbearably twee score, this feels like a film flung straight out of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Zooey and her bangs are representing! All it was missing was a stomp-clap indie pop closing track. There’s charm in that familiarity, although it is indeed very familiar. There were moments where I swore I’d seen this film before.
That description will probably help you sort out very quickly whether or not Trash Mountain is for you. As someone who came of age during the mid-2000s indie boom of Little Miss Sunshine and its ilk, I was engaged, if not 100% won over. It could have used a little more grit and some of that nerve that Hearon can be so good at utilising. Then again, maybe the gentleness is the point, a way to welcome in a sceptical audience or those expecting an assembly line of one-liners.
Trash Mountain had its world premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. It currently does not have a release date.
