Review: Wanderlust

Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston are a moderately successful couple who purchase what realtor Linda Lavin calls a ‘micro loft’ (a tiny studio apartment, really), and everything seems to be going swimmingly. Unfortunately, soon after, Murphy’s Law comes around to bite them in the arse, Rudd becomes unemployed and the documentary Aniston is pitching to HBO is passed on. So they move in with Rudd’s douchebag philandering brother (Ken Marino) and family in Atlanta. Rudd’s even offered a job by Marino, but this seems mostly so he can brag and berate his brother. Obviously this situation isn’t going to work, but one day they stumble upon a hippie commune called Elysium. Despite the creepy nude dudes like Joe Lo Truglio, they even stay the night. And through a series of situations that can only happen in the movies, they end up staying longer, even contemplating living there for good. But can their marriage withstand a ‘free love’ lifestyle? When Rudd eyes hottie Malin Akerman, it seems easy...but maybe he’s not so sure. Alan Alda plays the befuddled founder of the commune who still hangs around, whilst Justin Theroux (badly) plays the horny, Christ-like spiritual leader who clearly has designs on Aniston. Lauren Ambrose, Jordan Peele, and Kathryn Hahn are amongst the hippie freaks.

 

After an excellent performance from a both touching and funny Linda Lavin gets us off to a good start, the laughs entirely dry up in this seriously lame 2012 film from director David Wain and writers Wain and Ken Marino (who also has a supporting role here). OK, that’s not entirely accurate. Aniston has a funny scene between her, a bitchy and pregnant HBO exec, and her cowardly, sycophantic associate. But after that, I only laughed twice; once for this line from one of the hippie idiots (Kerri Kenney-Silver); ‘Some people call it verbal diarrhoea, I just call it word shit’. The other laugh comes from Rudd’s brilliant reaction shot to Malin Akerman making a particular statement I dare not reveal here. Ray Liotta’s walk-on made me smile too, but only a smile.

 

Although I enjoyed “Role Models”, I didn’t much care for Wain’s “Wet Hot American Summer”, and this film is even worse, and it’s not just because the trailers promised a ménage-a-trois joke absent from the final film (Aniston was also rumoured to be naked, so presumably there actually was a scene at some point), though I’m sure that’ll piss a lot of people off. Wain simply isn’t interested in exploring the free love lifestyle, I’m afraid. No, this film is just plain desperate, even if it did include the ménage-a-trois, it wouldn’t be much better. I mean, it even resorts to the old ‘greedy people wanting to turn the property into a casino’ deal. Wasn’t that the plot of “Ernest Goes to Camp”? It starts out OK, but once Rudd and Aniston decide inanely to shack up in a hippie commune, it becomes painfully desperate and idiotic.

 

I guess my basic problem is that I think people who are all one with the earth and who hate modernity are tool buckets. Fuck finding yourself, if you invested in a mirror, you’d see yourself. These aren’t characters, they’re clichés and caricatures, unfunny and uninteresting ones. It’s almost like two characters in the Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn mould have been dropped into a movie-length version of a third-rate TV comedy show, with awful comedians...and Alan Alda (Several of the people in front and behind the camera here are indeed TV comedy people). And it’s not just the hippies, as Ken Marino plays a ridiculously obnoxious character who could never exist in reality, nor is he remotely funny. I didn’t believe anyone or anything in this film (Lauren Ambrose’s labour scene in particular is completely degrading, unfunny, and stupid), once the film departs from that initial moment of truth to head off to the peace and love and communal shower brigade. Never for a second did I believe the central characters would make the initial decision to stay here, but things hit absolute rock bottom when Rudd and Aniston have a chance to leave, and yet still choose to stay. This despite a) Rudd getting a potential job offer, and 2) They are clearly NOT hippie free love idiots. They only stay because the plot requires it. Even for a comedy, this simply won’t do, and not just because it fails to provide the laughs. One of the reasons it fails to provide the laughs is because of the ridiculousness and contrivance of it all. And this decision to stay leads to two things that absolutely torpedo the film. Firstly, Rudd has a genuinely embarrassing scene (apparently improvised by the actor) preparing himself to experience free love with Akerman, and it only gets worse when he meets up with her and has the exact same spastic reaction. Secondly, Jennifer Aniston’s character turns into a horrible liar by suggesting that Rudd is the one who convinced her to stay and get involved in the free love. Um, no, you lying cow, he wanted to go to his job interview. You suggested they stay, even though he warned you what that meant. Rudd doesn’t even pull her up on this, by the way, meaning that his character is ultimately no more sympathetic than her. Actually that isn’t true, because (**** SPOILER WARNING ****) he ultimately doesn’t go through with the infidelity, she does. So he’s definitely got that over her, even though he doesn’t have the balls to kick her to the curb for good. **** END SPOILER **** He’s a wimpy but basically decent human being in a film full of freaks and jerks.

 

Why Judd Apatow (“The 40 Year Old Virgin”) put his name to this as producer is beyond me, it’s far from worthy. It’s like a lame TV sketch (note the participation of Jordan Peele of “Key and Peele”. I think Key was here too, come to think of it) stretched beyond its limits and then some.

 

Jennifer Aniston once again plays a character in exactly the same manner as every one of her other performances. No matter what the character is, it always ends up as Rachel from “Friends” (a show where she was by far the least amusing of the ensemble), even when they’re nothing alike. Aniston simply can’t act. Rudd is better (aside from that awful improvised scene), but “Funny Farm” it ain’t.

 

This is a terrible film full of contrived and unbelievable situations, moronic plotting, idiotic caricatures, an unlikeable character and performance from Aniston, and precious few laughs. And what the HELL is Alan Alda doing here? Embarrassing himself for the most part. I love me some Spin Doctors, though. I genuinely thought those guys were going somewhere, man.

 

Rating: D+