Every December, someone restarts the argument over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Go deserves a seat at the table. Doug Liman’s follow-up to Swingers unfolds over one Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, from a supermarket checkout lane to a rave and then the Las Vegas Strip. Almost nobody behaves in the spirit of the season. The film earned only $16.9 million domestically in 1999, then spent the next quarter-century becoming the kind of cult favorite people insist their friends should already know. It was the first DVD I ever owned, and it remains one of the best adrenaline-fueled ensemble comedy-adventures of the ’90s.

Ronna Martin (Sarah Polley, The Sweet Hereafter) is a supermarket checker facing eviction. When coworker Simon (Desmond Askew) gives up his shift for a Vegas trip, soap actors Adam (Scott Wolf, Party of Five) and Zack (Jay Mohr, Jerry Maguire) come through Ronna’s line looking for ecstasy. She spots a quick way to cover the rent, which sends her to dealer Todd (Timothy Olyphant, Justified) with coworker Claire (Katie Holmes, Batman Begins) in tow. Then Liman rewinds the night and starts showing how everybody else’s bad decisions collide with hers.

John August first wrote Ronna’s story as a short called “X,” inspired by the late-night Ralphs on Sunset Boulevard known as Rock ’n’ Roll Ralphs. Friends kept asking about the supporting characters, so he expanded the script around them. Liman operated the camera himself, shooting handheld and sometimes without permits through roughly 25 overnight exterior shoots that ran from evening until morning. The camera never sleeps, and neither does anyone in front of it.

The structure is flashy, but the movie has enough personality to survive the trick. Roger Ebert praised Polley, and Janet Maslin singled out William Fichtner in a role best left unexplained. The cast now reads like a time capsule of people about to become much more famous. Holmes had only filmed the Dawson’s Creek pilot when she made it, and Melissa McCarthy turns up in her film debut and you can already spot the star quality that would make her a household name. Liman eventually moved on to Edge of Tomorrow, but Go still moves faster than plenty of movies half its age.