Inspired by their own youthful rowdy escapades – “our early days of driving around in a van, tired, hungry, out of gas, out of money, struggling, creating trouble” – here is an amiable road-movie comedy about, soundtracked by and briefly featuring Californian pop-punk stalwarts Green Day. Like them, it is more pop than punk: a fundamentally sweet and puppyish teen comedy about dreaming big and following your heart, featuring three fundamentally decent, likable youths – for all that they indulge in some Superbad-style smutty banter, try to buy booze, steal the odd car, take magic mushrooms, skate, have green hair, get into mud fights and decline to tell their parents where they are going when they hit the road and head west from Kansas City to LA.

Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman and Ryan Foust star as 17-year-olds Tommy, Fred and Chad – two jokers and a nerd – who make music together as Analog Dogs in Tommy’s garage. When they are pranked into thinking their ageing idols have heard their demo cassette and want Analog Dogs to open for Green Day at the Hollywood Palladium on New Year’s Eve, the boys have mere days in which to beg, steal or borrow a way of getting there. Along the way, they encounter assorted oddballs and supportive adults, enter a battle of the bands contest, meet a cute girl who is also in a band, and learn a bit about the true meaning and importance of friendship.

The soundtrack – about 98% of which is by Green Day – is a bit one-note, but it’s got a lot of bounce. Likewise, the script is unsophisticated but enjoyably performed. The adult cast is spotted with comedy pros such as Fred Armisen and Bobby Lee, and there is a perfectly pitched turn as Tommy’s mom by Jenna Fischer from the US Office (and who is writer-director Lee Kirk’s wife). But it’s the teens who have to carry the weight of this film, and they are fun to hang out with for a couple of hours.

• Nimrods is in cinemas from 11 August.