Kieran Culkin swept the field this movie awards season, scoring nominations and victories at essentially every single major awards show for his performance as Benji in Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain. Culkin deservedly took home tons of awards, gold, and stunned audiences with his dazzlingly charismatic speeches in the process, but he isn't the only Succession star on top of the filmmaking world. Jeremy Strong impressed critics in 2024 with his portrayal of Roy Cohn in the Sebastian Stan-led The Apprentice, and has proved year after year that his range as a dramatic actor knows no bounds. One of Jeremy Strong's best performances of all time is right at the center of a 2008 indie gem that somehow remains undiscovered to this day.

Humboldt County is a late 2000s indie comedy drama from the directorial duo of Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs. Despite having a stacked cast full of both Hollywood legends and soon-to-be big-name actors, the film has flown under the radar for the entirety of the 17 years since its release. The film is anchored by a Jeremy Strong performance that will not only tug at the heartstrings, but will also feel like an alternate universe Kendall Roy backstory. Humboldt County is a cult classic waiting to be discovered, so fans might as well hop on the film's bandwagon before it gets too crowded.

Humboldt County's lack of relevance in the film-loving corners of the internet is a truly inexplicable phenomenon. Grodsky and Jacobs' film was released during a time when quaint indie comedy films were all the rage. From Juno, to The Squid and the Whale, all the way to Little Miss Sunshine, quirky and bizarre worlds with slightly offbeat characters ruled the cinematic landscape for a short period of time. Despite this, and Jeremy Strong's recent surge to superstar status with Succession and his first Oscar nomination, Humboldt County remains unknown.

Humboldt County primarily follows Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong), a soon-to-be doctor who is just about to finish up his time in medical school. In his final test before graduating, however, Peter is unexpectedly failed by his professor, who also happens to be his stern and always hovering father (Peter Bogdanovich). Reeling, Peter is sent on a wild journey into the night where he meets, and subsequently spends the night with a woman named Bogart. Before he knows it, Peter is fully immersed in Bogart's world, and finds himself living with an eccentric makeshift family of marijuana farmers in the deep forests of Humboldt County. In this unfamiliar yet picturesque landscape, Peter begins to find himself and discovers what he is separate from the identity his father chose for him many years ago.

Peter's descent into this found family proves to be both a positive and a negative, however, as he finds himself thrust into the dangerous life of a then-illegal activity. What follows from this point is a treatise on grief, the meaning of family, and societal and family pressures. Jeremy Strong proves to be the anchor throughout the film's brief 97-minute runtime, but he is helped out by a horde of truly talented Hollywood actors.

Humboldt County has an incredible ensemble cast that features Fairuza Balk (Almost Famous, American History X, The Craft), Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Child's Play, Blue Velvet), and most importantly Chris Messina (The Mindy Project, Juror #2, I Care a Lot) as Max, Peter's closest friend in this new world. The cast is rounded out by one of the greatest film directors of all time, Peter Bogdanovich, in a small but important acting role, the ever-talented Frances Conroy, and a young Madison Davenport, who delivers some of the most heartbreaking moments of the entire film.

The film is a perfect mix of an arrested development coming-of-age tale, a hysterical comedy, and a truly emotional drama. Grodsky and Jacobs flawlessly manage tone throughout the film's 97 minutes, with two distinct sections towards the end of the film that effectively feel ripped out of an entirely different film. Even with these harshly different scenes inserted in the finale, the film never feels off balance, thanks to the sturdy directorial prowess of this highly underrated duo.

Kendall Roy isn't the only complex character played by the future Academy Award winner. Kendall Roy was a smart, witty, and desperate businessman, who also happened to be deeply flawed and emotional. This complexity and dynamism carries through to the rest of Jeremy Strong's performances. This isn't to say that all of his performances are the same, as many wrongly accuse Kieran Culkin's of being, but more so that no matter where Strong goes, greatness follows.

The lead contender for Jeremy Strong's best performance is Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice. While the film is primarily about the set of circumstances that led to Donald Trump's always controversial personality and eventual rise to power, it also features a devastating supporting performance. Strong's performance is so commanding, in fact, that many have noted that he accomplished the impossible. With his performance as the dastardly Roy Cohn, Strong somehow makes the audience feel bad for him, through subtle looks, glassy eyes, and quivering lips. Despite not taking home many awards for his portrayal of the character due to Culkin's dominance this awards season, Jeremy Strong's performance deserves to be recognized.

Strong is destined for Academy Award success, and if he keeps choosing projects the way he is now, he is bound to get there one day. After some early-career hiccups in films like The Happening and Serenity, Strong has starred in critical smash after critical smash, and he doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon. Strong put up powerhouse performances in a pair of Aaron Sorkin films, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Molly's Game, either of which could easily be argued as his career best. A sneaky pick for the best performance of his career, however, is his out-of-character role in 2019's The Gentlemen.

Whether it's his indie film performances, his television performances, or his word-heavy fast-talking roles in Aaron Sorkin films, the one certainty is that Jeremy Strong is always going to bring his A-game. Strong has become a bit of a joke recently for how seriously he takes the craft of acting, but the reality is that he should be admired for it. Passion is consistently mocked in the Hollywood world, from Timothée Chalamet's SAG Awards speech to Bradley Cooper's determination in making Maestro, but the results always speak for themselves. The result in Jeremy Strong's case is a nearly perfect acting filmography that fans should undoubtedly dive headfirst into.

Given the film's relatively unknown status as of 2025, Humboldt County is in a strange situation within the online sphere of film lovers. Grodsky and Jacobs' film was a critical failure upon release, garnering mixed reviews from critics who were lucky enough to catch the film in theaters. As of March 2025, Humboldt County has a 60% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a shockingly rotten 59% rating from audiences. Many dissenting critics claim that the film feels hollow and lacks a constant sense of tension, with many leaving their cinemas unimpressed with the film's balancing of tone.

Despite the negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, Humboldt County has amassed a minor cult following on more user-driven platforms. Edits featuring clips from the film have gone viral as recently as this month on TikTok, comparing Strong's performance in this film and his portrayal of Kendall Roy. This love has translated on to Letterboxd. On this platform, Jeremy Strong's best film has a collective rating of 3.5/5, with many users who originally only watched the film due to their Succession fandom claiming that Humboldt County made them an emotional wreck.

Humboldt County did not receive the recognition it deserved upon release, critically or financially, but with Jeremy Strong finally emerging as one of Hollywood’s premier stars, it’s only a matter of time before this unsung indie drama comedy finds its intended audience. Whether fans discover Humboldt County through their love of Succession, a random Prime Video suggestion, or through a Jeremy Strong deep dive, they are destined for an eye-opening experience. An offbeat story featuring a character well into adulthood isn't the typical coming-of-age tale, but it might be the one that fans need in these trying times.