New R-Rated Movie With How To Train Your Dragon Star Debuts To Stellar Rotten Tomatoes Score

Mason Thames' new R-rated movie is off to a strong start with critics.

Thames is best known for playing Hiccup in the live-action How to Train Your Dragon (2025) movie, but has an impressive – and growing – list of credits outside the hit Universal Pictures film. He featured prominently in the For All Mankind TV show, and has also appeared in movies like The Black Phone (2021) and Black Phone 2 (2025). Recently, he starred in both Regretting You (2025), a Colleen Hoover adaptation, and Idiots (2025). Now, another Thames film is about to hit theaters.

Ahead of its August 14 release, Nimrods has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes and currently sports a 79% score. This score was generated from only 14 reviews, meaning it could still change as more reviews are added, but it suggests that critics are broadly satisfied with the film.

No Popcornmeter has taken shape yet, but a score should arrive on or around August 14 as audiences get a chance to watch the movie. Nimrods premiered at TIFF last year, with early screenings beginning August 11.

Directed by Lee Kirk, Nimrods follows a band who must race across the U.S. in a van in order to serve as the opening act for Green Day's New Year's Eve concert in LA. Thames stars in the movie as Tommy, with Kylr Hoffman and Ryan Foust starring as his bandmates, Fred and Chad, respectively.

Nimrods features a supporting cast of well-known actors, including Mckenna Grace, Fred Armisen, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, Sean Gunn, and Bobby Lee. Green Day produced the movie and has a "story by" credit, with bandmates Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt also getting writing credits alongside Kirk. Armstrong, Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool also feature in the film.

Reviews for Nimrods, which was previously called New Years Rev, largely praise the movie as a satisfying road trip comedy, even if it does feature many familiar "coming of age" story beats. For The Irish Times, Tara Brady awards the film 3.5 out of 5, writes that the film "embraces a broad, episodic formula that delivers a chilled-out comedy with few surprises."

Andrew Murray awards Nimrods 3 out of 5 stars in his review for The Upcoming, calls the film a "a tribute to the punk scene, inspired by [Green Day's] early years on tour." For Loud and Clear Reviews, Serena Seghedoni awards 4 out of 5 stars, calling the film "corny, and wonderfully so" while also being "raw in a way only the best coming-of-age stories are."

Other reviews, however, are less positive. For Region Free, Joonatan Itkonen awards the movie only 1 star, writing that it's

a "poorly written mess filled with terrible acting and dated humor." The Sun's review by Dulcie Pearce is also lackluster at 2 stars, and she calls the film "overly complicated," writing that it just made her want to watch a documentary on Green Day itself.

It's unclear how Nimrods will fare with general audiences, but Green Day remains a seminal punk band of the '90s, and is still going strong today. Even though not all reviews are glowing, the R-rated road trip comedy is shaping up to be a nostalgic ride that further solidifies Thames' position as an up-and-coming leading man.