Wanderlust (Rated R)
- Starring Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Alan Alda
- Directed by David Wain
- Plot: A New York couple relocates to a commune in North Carolina after they both lose their jobs.
Wanderlust has moments of greatness in it. There are times when the movie is hilariously funny, unfortunately, the parts in between that just don't form a solid film.
George (
Paul Rudd) and Linda (
Jennifer Aniston) work in New York City. Right after buying a condo, George gets laid off and Linda's career hits a snag. They are soon off to Atlanta to live with George's obnoxious brother (
Ken Marino). Along the way, they end up stopping at bed & breakfast that is actually part of a commune...excuse me...intentional community. Once they get to George's brother house, it becomes readily apparent that their situation is far from ideal, and they leave there and return to join the commune – which has issues of its own as the land is being pursued by developers to build a new casino.
Paul Rudd is one of my favorite comedic actors. There is probably no better straight man working in comedies right now. In the scenes where he's reacting to what is going on around him, he's genius. But in some parts of Wanderlust, he's seems to be trying to break out of the straight role and it really feels like he's trying too hard.
Aniston is lovely and does a very funny job as Linda. The whole "will-she-or-won't-she" show her breasts was probably all publicity, but it doesn't take away from another funny turn after last year's Horrible Bosses.
Other highlights of the movie include
Alan Alda as the aging hippy who started the commune.
Justin Theroux (Aniston's current beau) does a decent job as the "spiritual head" of the commune, but it is in the side characters where most of the humor is found, particulary
Kathryn Hahn who had me in stitches whenever she was onscreen.
Jo Lo Truglio is also very funny as a nudist winemaker/author.
While this isn't
David Wain's (Role Models) best directing effort, he does have a solid hand for comedy. I think the fault here lies more in the script he and Marino wrote.
Ultimately, Wanderlust feels like about a half a dozen really good Saturday Night Live skits strung together with inferior material. If you're in the mood for a laugh, you could do worse; but I'd probably wait for the DVD.
