Wanderlust

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

George (Paul Rudd) and Linda (Jennifer Aniston) are an urban married couple who purchase a micro-loft in New York after much hesitation. George is expecting a promotion while Linda is trying to sell a documentary to HBO. Soon after purchasing their home, George learns that his company has folded, overnight, while HBO rejects Linda’s documentary. With both out of work, they are forced to sell their apartment and decide to leave for Georgia to live with George’s arrogant brother Rick (Ken Marino) and his wife Marisa (Michaela Watkins) after Rick offers George a job.

After many hours on the highway, Linda demands they stop to rest. The closest place to stop is a bed and breakfast hotel named Elysium. When they turn, they are surprised to see a man walking naked named Wayne Davidson (Joe Lo Truglio). They promptly try to turn back but flip the car over, so they are forced to stay at the hotel. While trying to sleep, they are distracted by noises in the living room. When they go to check, they learn that Elysium is a hippie commune. They meet the various residents of Elysium, including Seth (Justin Theroux), Eva (Malin Åkerman), and Elysium’s owner Carvin (Alan Alda). George and Linda spend the night feeling more alive than before. In the morning, everyone helps flip George’s car back so they can leave, but Seth urges them to consider staying.

George and Linda arrive at Rick’s house and find the atmosphere much less soothing. George eventually reaches breaking point with Rick and takes Linda back to Elysium, where they are welcomed back. George is excited about the simpler lifestyle while Linda is hesitant. After a few days however, Linda starts feeling enlightened by the lifestyle while George begins having second thoughts. George and Linda soon learn that ‘free love’ is strongly encouraged as Seth and Eva want to seduce Linda and George, respectively. Both George and Linda rebuff the notion of free love.

At the same time, Elysium is being targeted by property developers to build a casino on the property, but they are unable to until they have the deed to the land, which Carvin misplaced. When the property developers arrive with bulldozers, Linda scares them off by flashing them and the other residents join her. Linda is lauded as a hero by the commune. George then demands that they leave, saying that if they stay, they would have to give in to ‘free love’. Linda wants to stay and has sex with Seth. George is pressured to have sex with Eva, but he drives her away with his bizarre behavior. The next morning, George reaches breaking point, stating that he dislikes the rules of Elysium and wants to leave. Linda wants to stay, so George goes back to Rick’s house alone.

Seth believes he has found his soul mate in Linda and searches for the deed to Elysium which he sells to the property developers to start a new life with Linda. A child from the commune witnesses the burning of the deed by Seth and the man that wants to build the Casino. Seth tells Linda that he wants to go away from Elysium and that the others can look after themselves. Linda refuses.

In the meantime, George realises he loves Linda and comes back to finder her, getting into a fight with Seth while the commune looks on and tries to help ‘non-violently’. The child that witnesses the burning of the deed by Seth tells the commune what happened and George punches Seth in the jaw.

In the aftermath, the news show that visited Elysium does a story about the commune. George and Linda start a publishing company, with their first book being a political thriller novel written by Wayne. The novel is then fast-tracked into a film adaptation starring Ray Liotta. Carvin reclaims his rights to Elysium after he is reunited with all the original founders of Elysium, one of whom had another copy of the deed.

REVIEW:

Jennifer Aniston in yet another romantic comedy…or is she? I’m not quite so sure this can be classified as a romantic comedy, but yet, it does seem as if she only does one type of film, with a couple of exceptions. Wanderlust is yet another in her long line of generic nice girl roles.

What is this film about?

A young couple is looking to buy an apartment in New York City, and so they do. The next day she strikes out on her documentary pitch to HBO and he loses his job because the company he works for is raided by the feds. This forces them to sell the apartment they just bought and head to Atlanta to live with his (more successful) brother. On the way, they stop at what they think is a bed and breakfast, but turns out to be a hippie commune, where they have the time of their life. After a falling out with the brother, they return to live in the commune. As you can probably guess, things don’t go as well as planned there, either. The “leader” thinks the wife is his soulmate, some company wants the land to build condos or something, and of course there are various (sometimes comedic) issues with the people. Will the happy couple stay happy? Will the hippies keep their happy home?

What did I like about this film?

Hippies. I’ve been in a 70s kind of mode since the summer, as I’m having to do some “Summer of Love” stuff at work. The hippie commune, brought me back to that, even though these are a different brand of hippies. It was still nice to see them portrayed in a somewhat positive and comedic light, as opposed to the hate speech we got from that episode of South Park.

Cast. This is an extremely talented cast and it is a treat to see them together. Aniston and Rudd have great chemistry together, something we first saw in Friends, and of course it is kind of hard her to not have magic with her boyfriend Justin Theroux. This is not to forget great comedic turns from the likes of Alan Alda, Malin Akerman, Jordan Peele, and others.

Marino. I first was introduced to this guy in that show Reaper. He was quite funny in scenes here and there, until they killed him. Ever since then, I’ve gained respect for this man’s talent. He really cranks it up a notch, though his character is annoying as hell.

What didn’t I like?

Bait and switch. I remember when this film was about to be released, there was a big hullabaloo about Jennifer Aniston finally doing a topless scene, but right before the film was released she demanded it be cut out in respect to her new boyfriend. Many of us guys, and some women, were pissed about that. Months later, the film is released on DVD and that is all but forgotten, except the scene actually is still in the film, but it is an edited version of it. In other words, almost as much of a tease, if not more, than her scene in The Break Up.

No need to see that. As much as I was hoping to see more of Jennifer Aniston, we say way too much of Jo Lo Truglio, who was playing a nudist. I can deal with him being naked. It was his character, but did we really need to see everything?!?

Silk Spectre. So, why would you cast someone as hot as Malin Akerman to be the obvious young hottie and not really use her? I kid you not, she’s all over the film, but mostly as a highly paid extra. There are a couple of scenes with her, but nothing memorable. Such a shame, really, as she is infinitely more talented than some of the people who actually got major screentime.

Wanderlust is one of those films that people thought would be better than it turned out to be. The great cast and decent story aren’t enough to keep this film afloat as it meanders through its 97 minute runtime. I won’t say this film is bad, but it is one of those flicks that you’ll forget 5 minutes after you finish watching. I do not recommend it.

2 3/4 out of 5 stars

Paul

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) are two English comic book nerds and best friends who have travelled to The United States to attend the annual San Diego Comic-Con International and to take a road trip in their recreational vehicle (RV) to visit all the sites of major extraterrestrial importance. At night along the highway they investigate a crashed car and they meet and discover an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) who is in desperate need of their help. Although shocked by the appearance of Paul, Graeme agrees to give Paul a ride, but Clive is not happy about the idea. Later, Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman), a shady government agent, arrives at the site of the crashed car and informs his mysterious female superior over the radio that he’s closing in on Paul, and she recommends using local law enforcement as back-up. Zoil then recruits two inept FBI agents, Haggard (Bill Hader) and O’Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio), to aid in his mission, without telling them the nature of their target.

Graeme, Clive and Paul pull into a motor park run by Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), a Christian fundamentalist, and her controlling father, Moses (John Carroll Lynch). The trio bond around their campgrill and Paul reveals that since he was captured by the government, he had been advising them in all manner of scientific and sociological achievements. Yet Paul had outlived his usefulness as a receptacle of knowledge, and his captors were intending to surgically remove Paul’s brain in an attempt to harness his abilities. With help from a friend inside Area 51, Paul sent an S.O.S. to his home planet, and he was escaping to meet up with them. The next morning, Paul inadvertently reveals himself to Ruth, and the trio are forced to kidnap her and make a hasty escape. Paul then shatters Ruth’s faith by sharing his knowledge of the universe via telepathic link; at first horrified, Ruth suddenly becomes eager to sin, which her father had raised her to fear doing. She initially doesn’t trust Paul, but he heals her eye, as she has been blind in it since the age of four.

Eventually, Paul reveals his intention to return to the girl whose dog he crashed his ship on in 1947 and who subsequently saved his life, who is now an old woman, Tara Walton (Blythe Danner). After spending her life being ridiculed for what she said she saw, Tara seems grateful to see that Paul simply exists. She turns her gas cooker on to make tea, but is interrupted by Haggard and O’Reilly on one side of the house, and Zoil on the other. As the motley crew escapes and drives off with Paul, O’Reilly shoots at them, and the gas ignites, destroying the house. A winded Zoil tries to follow, but Haggard takes off first, running Moses (who’d also been tracking the RV) off the road, and catching up to the RV. However, thanks to an error of judgement, Haggard accidentally drives off a cliff, and is presumably killed, leaving Zoil in hot pursuit. He reassures his superior that he’ll have Paul within an hour, but she declares herself tired of waiting, and informs Zoil that she’s ordered a military response.

When Paul, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and Tara arrive at the rendezvous, they set off a signal and wait. Eventually, eerie orange lights show up over the surrounding trees, and everyone believes that it is Paul’s race. However, it is an army helicopter, with ‘the Big Guy’ (Sigourney Weaver) on board, Zoil’s shadowy superior. As she and three troops move to shoot Paul, Zoil arrives, and it’s revealed that he was Paul’s inside contact who had helped him to escape. Zoil disarms the men, but is shot in the shoulder. Tara punches out ‘the Big Guy’, but Moses appears with a shotgun and shoots Graeme dead. Paul heals him and then collapses, exhausted. Paul seems to be dead and everyone is silent until he coughs, to the relief of all. ‘The Big Guy’ regains consciousness, but is immediately crushed by the arriving alien ship. Paul begins to depart and informs Tara that she is going with him to live a better life and bids farewell to his friends hoping to meet them again one day. Two years later, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and even O’Reily (with a scarred face from the house explosion) are shown again at the 2011 Comic-Con convention, promoting their new mega-successful novel, Paul.

REVIEW:

We’ve all seen alien flicks, right? What about alien merchandise? It is kind of hard to have not seen at least something that has been plastered with the default alien image, but that image, according to this film, is Paul.

I really wanted to see this when it came out. These days it seems like people are afraid to make a funny comedy, at least not without it turning into a drama halfway thorough and never getting back to the funny. No worries about that with Paul.

This flick starts off funny, has a few moments of touching bonding that is to be expected from a quasi-buddy movie, and then gets right back to the funny. On top of that, there is some slapstick and sight gags here that really can have you on the floor rolling.

I was a little disappointed with the special effects here. Sure, Paul looks great, but I guess I was expecting some kind of fantastic, over-the-top alien technology like in Mars Attacks, rather than the subdued subtleties as in something like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Having said that, Paul’s powers sort of make-up for that. It seemed like everytime something happened we learned about some other fabulous power he possessed. No wonder the government wanted to slice him up and get the secrets. Come to think of it, I think they just wanted to slice him up for the fun of it. That seems to be more their style.

Pacing is pretty good. There aren’t any places that drag the film down. I’ve mentioned earlier how there is a scene that breaks from the comedy, but that doesn’t do anything other than help tie up some loose ends in the plot and whatnot. It doesn’t affect how the film moves along at all.

I liked the story. Knowing how cynical people are these days, I’m sure there are people who would have preferred this story to go in a totally different direction, but not me. Although, it would have been nice to see him harvest some farts (a joke Paul makes when they meet him initially).

You know these days when you have a comedy, you pretty much call in any of these actors (not counting Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). Seriously, look at almost any comedy from the past 3-5 yrs and I would bet you’d find someone’s there and here.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.

People said that when Seth Rogen lost weight, he lost his ability to be funny (now they say that about Jonah Hill). That was certainly obvious with The Green Hornet, but here it shows that he can still do it. Of course, since Paul was animated, it is possible he recorded his lines while he was still a fat guy.

British comedic actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are hilarious as these two sci-fi geeks from, yep, you guessed it, England. Their wide-eyed naivite and chemistry with both Paul and Kristen Wiig really made the film click.

In the end Paul is a good time. No, this isn’t you father’s alien flick, but it is hilarious. Sure there are some issues here and there, but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Look for a couple of surprise cameos, one is only a voice, but it is in a very funny scene. Do I think you should see this? Oh yes, most definitely! I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

4 out of 5 stars