On last Friday’s The KVNU Movie Show, I mentioned THE LOST BUS—the true-story wildfire rescue drama directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera. It’s about the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, the deadliest wildfire in state history, and a school bus run that turns into a five-hour fight to get 22 kids out alive. The bones of a great movie are here, and the leads do what they do best.

Plot: A bus driver and an elementary school teacher improvise a way through smoke-choked roads, exploding debris, and jammed evacuations—keeping terrified kids calm while the fire closes in. It’s inherently tense, and the heroism is undeniable.

Performances: McConaughey and Ferrera are rock solid—steady, human, believable. But it’s also what you’d expect from both, which (fair or not) makes the film feel less surprising than it should.

Why it doesn’t quite land: Greengrass’s signature shakey cam might energize a spy chase, but here it sometimes pulls us out of the moment. The movie also withholds enough backstory that our investment in these two leads never fully deepens, and the editing keeps jerking us away from the fire just when the tension spikes. The result is a very good movie that keeps glancing off greatness.

Bottom line: Compelling, admirable, worth a watch—just not the knockout this story deserves.

Currently streaming on Apple TV+. Check out the trailer below and check the KVNU For the People Movie Show podcast page for my review on this Friday’s KVNU For the People Movie Show.