Nika & Madison (2025) Movie Drinking Game
Take a Drink: for microaggressions
Take a Drink: for more overt aggressions
Take a Drink: for city/country contrasts
Take a Drink: for dirty cop red flags
Do a Shot: when you first start to suspect the ‘&’ indicates a Thelma & Louise-type scenario
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) –
“Starlight Tours” are a terrifying practice of some Canadian police officers, in which they drive an Indigenous person outside of city limits and strand them there to face the elements and find their own way home.
Nika & Madison is about a couple of First Nations girls, one who’s gone to Toronto to university, and the other who’s stayed behind on ‘the Rez’. When the former ends up in the back of a police car after some bad barroom decisions, the latter makes a fateful decision to follow.
A Toast
Right from the jump, it’s hard not to be charmed by the fun rapport between our two titular gals, who the years may have drawn apart, but who still have much in common- fearlessness for one. Actresses Star Slade and Ellyn Jade make you believe in their friendship and support for each other.
Debut feature director Eva Thomas shows a sure hand- when things get dicey her filmmaking gets polished and thrilling- the scary situations are quite scary indeed. The setup and title structure should probably tell you where this is going, and Nika & Madison’s strong relationship is contrasted with Amanda Brugel and Shawn Doyle playing a new detective and her townie partner who have a much rockier beginning as they investigate the seeming crime that has put these girls on the run.
Beer Two
The city/country banter starts to feel odd after the stakes raise exponentially, although that normalizes.
Also, the two cops’ working and personal relationships really seesaw wildly. Just when you think they’re starting to understand each other, blow-up.
Beer Three
I’m really not buying that hospital room confrontation. How they even got there raises far more questions than it answers.
Verdict
Nika & Madison is a brash and stylish story of a group of young Italian girls growing up in a strange yet not unfamiliar 90s setting.
