With very little attempt at story or character building Wanderlust gives us George (Paul Rudd) and Linda (Jennifer Aniston), a couple of wannabe upper crust New Yorkers without the means to be such. Things go bad for the couple when they purchase a “micro loft” in the West Village on the belief George will be getting a fat raise and Linda will secure a deal with HBO for her “penguins with testicular cancer” documentary. Their dream, however, is dispensed in a matter of minutes as George loses his job, Linda doesn’t get the HBO deal and they are forced to sell their place at a loss and relocate to Atlanta to live with George’s brother (Ken Marino) while things get sorted out.
On the way they stumble upon a bed and breakfast called Elysium filled with hippies, nudists and any other kind of “free lovin'” stereotype available. Frazzled and in need of anything to shake their negative frame of mind, they skip out on living with George’s asshole brother — seriously, I know it’s meant to be funny, but I wouldn’t spend a minute with this guy — and decide on a two week trial run at Elysium.
As their stay progresses, George finds himself in unexpected competition with a hippie named Seth (Justin Theroux) and a corporation is moving in on the land, offering up a silly side story in which one of Elysium’s founding fathers played by Alan Alda — who is seen trucking around the entire film on a Hoveround — has to try and remember where he placed the deed 40 years ago.
For the most part, the plot doesn’t get too deep and you can see where it’s going every step of the way, but the expectation with a film like this is to laugh, and that’s where it runs into trouble. It’s just not very funny. The laughter that comes out of all of this is limited to primarily sight gags, though, to be fair, there’s a “wrapped in Reynolds” moment that made me laugh, primarily because it was so subtle I’m not even sure most of the audience members heard it. This example should help, however, in determining whether Wanderlust is for you. How do you like your comedy?
If you dig sight gags and the idea of a hoard of naked geriatrics running from an out of control Cadillac SUV in slow motion interests you, then by all means plunk down $13 and be my guest. However, if you also appreciate not-so-obvious comedy tossed in to appease the part of your brain that hopes the filmmakers put a little effort into the writing rather than just giving up and throwing a penis at the screen, then you may be in for a long 95 minutes.
Directed by David Wain, this film falls far from the tree his Role Models fell from. There’s even a haphazardly way in which the film is edited together that makes me think entire plot threads were excised after too much test screening. Such as how Paul Rudd’s character shows a growing annoyance with the Elysium crew throughout the film, then, as if a switch is flipped, he loses all composure and the film begins its downhill tumble toward the end.
Rudd is given little opportunity to be funny outside of a couple scenes such as what I will refer to here as the “mirror moment”, but even this scene plays as if they just told Rudd to improvise for as long as he could and they’d see what they could use (it turns out they used too much). It ultimately felt like there was a lack of directorial control over story and situation and the film suffers for it.
You’ll likely laugh while watching Wanderlust, I did, but it wasn’t a genuinely funny experience. The comedy never felt fresh or unlike anything you could see in any number of similarly-themed hippie features. It would appear they lived by the motto that when things slowed down they’d throw a penis at the audience and hope they’ll laugh. In short… try harder.
