Last Night in Rozzie is a personal film for the team behind it.

Screenwriter Ryan McDonough hails from Roslindale, outside of Boston (the town, according to McDonough, was not as idyllic as it is today). McDonough wrote from a combination of personal experiences he had growing up there. 

The film follows New York lawyer Ronnie Russo (Neil Brown Jr.), who gets a call from his former best friend when he least expects it and the pair finds that reconnecting comes with an extraordinary amount of baggage on both ends. 

McDonough has been carrying the story with him for years as it is one of the first screenplays he ever wrote.

"I grew up in Rozzie. It was a tough neighborhood at the time. I got out and went to a good school and life changed a lot when I was living in New York City, and I wondered what happened to kids I hung out with back then," he said.

"I’ve also been sober for 20 years, and I often wonder how many of those folks didn’t make it. That was the springboard for the story: what if somebody were in that scenario, dying of alcoholism, and a friend had a chance to go back and see them? So overall the story was inspired by my experience and dealing with a lot of trauma."

There is also the unifying theme of baseball throughout the film; Ronnie and Joey Donovan (Jeremy Sisto) played together as kids. Joey always wanted to bond with his son over the game, and Ronnie does exactly that when he pays Joey’s son a visit. Both director Sean Gannet and McDonough admit they are baseball fanatics.

"We bonded over that early," Gannet said.

"Even though Ryan is a die-hard Sox fan, and I’m a Yankees fan."

The undercurrent of being a sports fanatic carries over into Joey and Ronnie’s friendship, as does a larger discussion about the unique and rare closeness of male best friends in general.

"I don’t think men often have close relationships and that’s a huge problem. I mean, how do you tell a man you love him? Times are changing and things are more open to straight men, cis men being able to access those feelings, but when I was growing up if you said you liked someone as a friend you got your ass kicked. I think things are getting better now, but my generation is entrenched in 'don’t show your vulnerabilities,'" McDonough said.

"We knew that the relationship between Joey and Ronnie was the heart of the film and if we didn’t get that right, everything would fall apart. A major part of directing is casting, and to be honest, that’s what I love so much about this movie is the approach Jeremy and Neil took to the characters. Ronnie starts out on eggshells and ends with, 'I'm stepping into this anger' before he can finally break through. Watching how they played off each other was brilliant. I just got out of the way. I remember the last day we shot there was this relief and euphoria and it was just blissful because I knew walking out of those scenes that we got it. It felt so real and right and I knew it was gonna be okay and it all was gonna work out."

McDonough says the whole thing was a love story.

"I fell in love with everybody making it and these two characters that need to say, 'I love you.' They were each other’s brothers and each other’s fathers and the tragedy is that they aren’t able to express that clearly. But ultimately Joey is the sacrifice to allow Ronnie to come to terms with everything."

The "everything" in the movie is a lot of lies both characters keep from each other. McDonough said it took some rewrites to get the secrets and lies aspect of the film exactly right.

"While there are indeed a lot of lies, it’s also characters that just screw with each other. Pattie (Nicky Whelan, who plays Joey’s ex) is even doing it — busting his behind all the time. Nobody can come clean and it’s frustrating to watch. I know a lot of people who cannot tell the truth. This damage — three damaged characters and more ... much more so with Ronnie and Joey — and everyone has this aspect of 'don't show your cards.'"

Gannet continues, "The lies go along with the toxic masculinity our characters are dealing with. There’s an element of, 'if I can just keep it a secret everything will be okay.'"

The "it" in this movie is heavy; the film deals with themes of alcoholism, abuse, and some even darker elements as well, but some characters are clearly on their way to redemption, if not already there. Pattie is one of them. She’s the strong, single mom of Joey’s only son and despite all the odds, it feels as if she will undoubtedly succeed. 

On the flip side, the filmmakers do not give Joey a ton of room to make a change. Gannet said that was an intentional choice, but there is still positivity in his journey.

"He doesn’t get what he wants, but he gets what he needs," he said.

"He’s made a lot of mistakes, and that’s the message of the story. We have to work on ourselves and we have to seek help and we have to make the effort to heal because no one will do it for you."

According to Gannet, Joey saw himself as the hero of his own story.

"He did some heroic things. He especially did one very heroic thing, but that’s not enough. He does get redemption in that his friendship has gone back to where he started and he is again close to the person that he was once closest to."

Both filmmakers believe regardless of where this elder generation ends up, the younger generation of Rozzie will do things differently, starting with Joey’s son. Gannet even said that’s the most hopeful part.

"He has the best chance," he said.

"I fully agree," continued McDonough.

"That’s the biggest redemption in the story. The cycle can end."

Ultimately, the filmmakers expressed the biggest redemption for themselves is the fact that the film is playing in theaters. They dedicated it to friends and family close to their hearts; namely Ruth Gannet, Terry Iandiorio, and Mary McDonough.

Last Night in Rozzie is now available in theaters and on VOD.