Grade: C-Yin: Faux-clever rehash of yuppie out of water narrative. Rudd and Aniston do little more than play toothless versions of their trademark character types while Director David Waid squanders a bit of the good will he earned with Role Models.
Yang: A few well-earned chuckles from Joe Lo Truglio, Alan Alda, and Ken Marino aren’t enough to turn the tide.
In-Between: Grape smashing in the nude. ‘Nuff said.
It used to be a thing to make fun of yuppies, didn’t it?
At least it was until most of them went broke.
I suppose enough time has passed and since 2008 and 2009’s crippling economic crises that it’s okay to get back to plucking at those overeager paper-chasers because that is the bread and butter of 90% of the jokes in David Waid’s occasionally funny but mostly painful Wanderlust.
Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd star as George and Linda, a New York couple enamored with a high-speed Manhattan lifestyle they can barely afford. When they’re forced to sell their brand new “micro-loft” after Linda fails to sell a half-baked documentary on penguins to HBO and George loses his job in light of an FBI raid at his stock brokerage, the pair heads south to Atlanta, where George’s cartoonishly obnoxious brother (Ken Marino) is offering work and a room in his McMansion. Along the way, the pair stop at the writers-think-it’s-cleverly-named Elysium Bed and Breakfast. For one night, George and Linda are privy to a pure Woodstock experience—complete with weed and didgeridoos--when the encounter the calculatedly wacky residents of the “intentional community”—never a commune—that houses Elysium.
From spacy nudist Wayne (Joe Lo Troglio) to foul-mouthed former porn star Karen (Kathryn Hahn) to expecting Earth momma Almond (Lauren Ambrose), the denizens of Elysium never fail to fulfill old school hippie stereotypes, but none moreso than fellow New York escape and free love child Eva (Malin Akerman) and de facto leader Seth (Justin Theroux). Seth, in particular, challenges George and Linda to leave behind the rat race and embrace nature’s bosom. After a straw-breaks-the-camel’s-back moment with George’s brother, the two take a shot at living like 21st century hippies, but is that life really all it’s cracked up to be?
Aniston and Rudd do the best they can with the mostly limp material. While Rudd delivers another toothless variation on his trademark snarky smart-ass, Aniston continues to elevate herself above Kate Hudson and Katherine Heigl as queen shrew--how she managed to do that with a character who is supposed to be an aimless free spirit is a bit of a mystery. Theroux gives a heroic effort as the extra smarmy and self-righteous Seth, but like Rudd and Aniston’s, he is saddled with a trite character with a fairly telegraphed arc. Alan Alda--as the aging founder of the Elysium commune--Joe Lo Truglio, and Ken Marino, on the other hand, deliver some consistent humor with their off-kilter characters that contributes to a few of the flick’s more chuckle-worthy moments. The rest of the cast, unfortunately, fades into the background, barely able to do more than exist as hopelessly dated cartoons.
Director David Waid, who first collaborated with Rudd on the far superior Role Models, probably viewed Wanderlust as some sort of insightful commentary on Americans incessant desire live beyond their means, clearly ignoring the economic developments of the past four years, and the toll it takes on their ability to enjoy life. Despite Waid’s subpar effort, Wanderlust is probably not the best vehicle for such introspection. The fact that the humor is too broad and sparse to be considered anything other than remotely clever doesn’t help matters either. With a serious overall to the half-baked cliché of a premise and at least a pound of nuance, Wanderlust might have captured the zeitgeist of the moment to make a relatively profound statement on “keeping up with the jones” when the jones’ are broke. Instead, he settles for limp rehash of the yuppies out of water narrative that barely inspires more than a few errant chuckles.
At least it was until most of them went broke.
I suppose enough time has passed and since 2008 and 2009’s crippling economic crises that it’s okay to get back to plucking at those overeager paper-chasers because that is the bread and butter of 90% of the jokes in David Waid’s occasionally funny but mostly painful Wanderlust.
Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd star as George and Linda, a New York couple enamored with a high-speed Manhattan lifestyle they can barely afford. When they’re forced to sell their brand new “micro-loft” after Linda fails to sell a half-baked documentary on penguins to HBO and George loses his job in light of an FBI raid at his stock brokerage, the pair heads south to Atlanta, where George’s cartoonishly obnoxious brother (Ken Marino) is offering work and a room in his McMansion. Along the way, the pair stop at the writers-think-it’s-cleverly-named Elysium Bed and Breakfast. For one night, George and Linda are privy to a pure Woodstock experience—complete with weed and didgeridoos--when the encounter the calculatedly wacky residents of the “intentional community”—never a commune—that houses Elysium.
From spacy nudist Wayne (Joe Lo Troglio) to foul-mouthed former porn star Karen (Kathryn Hahn) to expecting Earth momma Almond (Lauren Ambrose), the denizens of Elysium never fail to fulfill old school hippie stereotypes, but none moreso than fellow New York escape and free love child Eva (Malin Akerman) and de facto leader Seth (Justin Theroux). Seth, in particular, challenges George and Linda to leave behind the rat race and embrace nature’s bosom. After a straw-breaks-the-camel’s-back moment with George’s brother, the two take a shot at living like 21st century hippies, but is that life really all it’s cracked up to be?
Aniston and Rudd do the best they can with the mostly limp material. While Rudd delivers another toothless variation on his trademark snarky smart-ass, Aniston continues to elevate herself above Kate Hudson and Katherine Heigl as queen shrew--how she managed to do that with a character who is supposed to be an aimless free spirit is a bit of a mystery. Theroux gives a heroic effort as the extra smarmy and self-righteous Seth, but like Rudd and Aniston’s, he is saddled with a trite character with a fairly telegraphed arc. Alan Alda--as the aging founder of the Elysium commune--Joe Lo Truglio, and Ken Marino, on the other hand, deliver some consistent humor with their off-kilter characters that contributes to a few of the flick’s more chuckle-worthy moments. The rest of the cast, unfortunately, fades into the background, barely able to do more than exist as hopelessly dated cartoons.
Director David Waid, who first collaborated with Rudd on the far superior Role Models, probably viewed Wanderlust as some sort of insightful commentary on Americans incessant desire live beyond their means, clearly ignoring the economic developments of the past four years, and the toll it takes on their ability to enjoy life. Despite Waid’s subpar effort, Wanderlust is probably not the best vehicle for such introspection. The fact that the humor is too broad and sparse to be considered anything other than remotely clever doesn’t help matters either. With a serious overall to the half-baked cliché of a premise and at least a pound of nuance, Wanderlust might have captured the zeitgeist of the moment to make a relatively profound statement on “keeping up with the jones” when the jones’ are broke. Instead, he settles for limp rehash of the yuppies out of water narrative that barely inspires more than a few errant chuckles.
No comments:
Post a Comment