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Two former Army Rangers are paired against their will on the road trip of a lifetime. Briggs (Channing Tatum) and Lulu (a Belgian Malinois) race down the Pacific Coast to get to a fellow soldier's funeral on time.
Feb 18, 2022 | Theatrical Wide (3,827 locations)
$14,883,928
$61,778,069
$22,996,174
$84,774,243
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Country of Origin: United States
Former Marine Jackson Briggs is seeking to return to the service from which he was discharged due to his brain injury and seizures he’s suffer. His supervisor, Captain Jones, therefore offers him an opportunity – he will make a call and as a commanding officer will confirm his application, but in return Briggs must transport a female Belgian Shepherd, Lulu, to Nogales for the funeral of her handler, Riley, who died in a car accident a few days earlier. Because Lulu is aggressive and there is no one among the soldiers or police officers to adopt her, Briggs is to drop her off at White Sands base after the funeral, where she will be euthanized.Briggs receives some things to return to Riley’s family and Lulu’s “Love Me Book”, a diary where all soldiers have to write down all the notes from the war and training, as well as a warning not to touch Lulu’s ears because she is sensitive to them. Together with a barking dog in tow, he embarks on a 1500-mile journey. However, he doesn’t plan to go directly to the place and wait for the funeral at the hotel, he decides to enjoy the trip. Shortly after leaving the base, Briggs goes to the shooting range. While he’s gone, Lulu manages to get out of the transport box and starts trashing his seats. Briggs therefore has to sedate her with a tranquilizer in a sausage and continues on their way. In the evening, he visits two prostitutes and leaves the sleepy Lulu in the car. However, she soon wakes up and starts barking again, which is noticed by a passerby. Believing it to be an abused dog, the man throws a rock at the car despite Briggs’ warning, and Lulu runs out and attacks him. Briggs quickly pulls her back, but the two girls flee from him in the meantime.The next day, Briggs continues his journey and has a monologue with Lulu. He reveals that both he and Lulu are a liability to the army – she is aggressive and masterless, and he has been deemed incompetent because he suffers seizures when he gets stressed. Lulu suddenly breaks free of the collar she is tied by, jumps out of the car and makes a run for it, injuring herself in the process. Briggs has to stop quickly and tries to catch her. Following her trail of blood, he is led to the home of a local farmer. A man named Gus hits Briggs with a tranquilizer dart and ties him to a chair in the pigsty, where he interrogates him. Thinking Briggs is a member of the commando squad sent to confiscate his weed, he bluffs that he killed Lulu. When he leaves, Briggs breaks free and follows him into the house. As he is about to kill him with an axe, he notices Lulu, whose injured paw is being tended to by Gus’s wife. Briggs is surprised to find Lulu acting calm and friendly. Outside the house, he reconciles with Gus and briefly tells him Lulu’s story. Gus’s wife eventually tells Briggs that Lulu has her paw treated and she has offered her a connection. He finds that Lulu is craving a soft mattress and Indian food. Saying goodbye to the couple, he leaves with Lulu.
So Briggs, despite considerable misgivings, stops at a hotel with Lulu on his way, pretending to be blind and Lulu is his assistance dog so they can both get in for free. He takes a bath with Lulu and in the evening flirts with the hotel receptionist. Lulu suddenly breaks free and attacks the Muslim doctor, Al-Farid, though fortunately, thanks to her muzzle, she cannot harm him. When Briggs tries to catch her, he trips, revealing that his eyesight is actually fine. He is arrested and Lulu is confiscated.
When he spends the night in custody, he meets a racist police officer who thinks he set the dog on Al-Farid on purpose.
In the interrogation room the next morning, Briggs tries to explain Lulu’s aggressive behavior, saying that she was trained to attack people like Al-Farid, and they are both released.Since they still have plenty of time left, Briggs decides to visit his ex-wife and daughter. However, his wife won’t let him in, so he decides to go see brother of Lulu, Nuke, and his handler Noah who live nearby. Noah greets Lulu like an old friend and, during an afternoon barbecue, reveals to Briggs that he was in a similar situation with Nuke and had to work hard with him for six months before the military allowed him to adopt him.
When Briggs says goodbye to Noah in the evening, he discovers that his car has been ransacked and that not only Riley’s belongings are gone, but also his medication. With the help of the two dogs, they are able to track down the thieves and recover most of the items. Briggs drives away, but after several hours of driving in heavy rain at night his car breaks down. He and Lulu take refuge in an abandoned building. Lulu is afraid of the storm and nearly attacks Briggs, but ultimately she doesn’t. An angry Briggs goes out into the rain, but eventually returns and puts on Grey’s Anatomy on TV. While doing so, he reads Riley’s poignant notes from the Love Me Book about how he almost lost Lulu when she was shot once, and that he realizes he was never Lulu’s master, but that she was his.The next morning, they finally go to the funeral. They manage to hitch a ride in a small truck and drive a short distance, walking the rest of the way. When Lulu is too tired to continue, Briggs takes her in his arms. Eventually, they manage to get to the funeral on time. Briggs lets Lulu go and she lies down by her former master’s shoes. Briggs comforts her during the eulogy and gives Riley’s belongings to his family.
After the funeral, Briggs gets his car fixed and calls Captain Jones. He says that Lulu has improved a lot during the trip and is no longer aggressive, and urges Jones to change his mind about Lulu’s euthanasia after all. Jones, however, replies that it’s not up to them.
On the way back, Briggs stops with Lulu in the prairie, takes off her collar, and lets her go so she has a chance to survive. Lulu, however, won’t run away, and when Briggs tries to chase her away, she jumps back into the car, so Briggs goes back with her. He has a seizure at the hotel that night and when he regains some composure, he tells Lulu he’s fine, strokes her ears and lies down on the floor. Lulu faithfully lays her head on his chest and stays with him.In the morning, Briggs, as arranged, takes Lulu to the White Sands base, muzzles her, and hands her over to young Corporal Lewitz, but urges him to evaluate Lulu again and give her a chance before putting her down. He then leaves the base himself, but when he sees Lulu’s desperate struggle in a rearview, he can’t stand it and eventually returns and takes her with him, leaving his expired ID on the base.
Some time later, he adopts Lulu and even has his family return to him. The film ends with a shot of Briggs and Lulu sitting on a cliff watching the sea. Briggs thanks Lulu “for saving his life”.
Two former Army Rangers are paired against their will on the road trip of a lifetime. Army Ranger Briggs (Channing Tatum) and Lulu (a Belgian Malinois dog) buckle into a 1984 Ford Bronco and race down the Pacific Coast in hopes of making it to LuLu’s handler’s funeral on time. Along the way, they’ll drive each other completely crazy, break a small handful of laws, narrowly evade death, and learn to let down their guards in order to have a fighting chance of finding happiness. — MGM