go logo go
 
article photo
article photo
Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston star in "Wanderlust."


MOVIE REVIEW

Paul Rudd's riffing can't save 'Wanderlust'

« Go

Paul Rudd stands in front of a bathroom vanity and riffs a string of vulgar, not-very-funny euphemisms for the intercourse he plans to have with Malin Akerman in an outtake in the closing credits of "Wanderlust." It's a part of the process with any Judd Apatow production — raunchy, riffy runs, comic actors firing away in an effort to top each other and what's in the script. Apatow's ethos, "The funniest line wins."

Only they're not funny. The take of him doing this scene in the film isn't amusing either. And Rudd is easily the most experienced member of the Apatow Frat Pack in this cast. If he can't find the humor in this comedy about uptight New Yorkers who drop out on a Georgia commune ("We prefer 'intentional community'"), what chance do his castmates have?

Related Links

Wanderlust

Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Malin Akerman

Director: David Wain

Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

Rating: R for sexual content, graphic nudity, language and drug use

Not much. "Wanderlust," co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Akerman, Justin Theroux and Alan Alda, is a random, tedious and tone-deaf comedy, a feeble recycling of every hippie commune cliche you've ever heard.

The Gergenblatts — George (Rudd) and Linda (Aniston) — are displaced New Yorkers who lost their shirts and their "micro-loft" (studio apartment) when George's financial company was shut down by the Feds, his bosses thrown in jail for financial malfeasance. Linda, a 40ish sometime documentary filmmaker/children's book author and coffee-shop operator, may shriek "How could you let this happen to us?" But she's been no help, dabbling in a lot of careers and never settling on one or succeeding at any.

"Do you know how hard it is to be married to somebody who hasn't decided on a MAJOR?"

They pack their ancient Honda and putter south to stay with George's obnoxious porta-potty rental tycoon brother Rick (Ken Marino, who co-wrote the script) and Rick's self-medicating wife (Michaela Watkins, amusing). But on the way, George and Linda stumble across Elysium, a commune that operates a bed-and-breakfast. George is taken by it, and drags them back to this community of organic farming, folk singing, drug-using free-loving cliches. They will live in a house with no doors and no privacy under the thumb of the tuned-out guru, Seth, a Jesus-haired caricature played as such by Theroux.

Seth is full of teensy profundities, e.g. "Time is our friend." He's sort of a watered-down version of the aged stoner (Alan Alda) who founded the place, an old man who has learned that "money buys nothing."

First George is into this lifestyle, abandoning his stress, tempted by Miss "We Share EVERYthing" (Akerman). Then he's over it. Of course, by that time, Linda has given herself over to this radical new lifestyle of "truth circles," where every argument is a public event, as is every trip to the toilet.

The idea of rat-racers running off to a "simpler" life is as old as the movies, and the two things co-writers David Wain ("Role Models") and Marino bring to it are nudity — the Full Monty, kids — and crudity. Coming out on the heels of a major American lifestyle shift — the Great Recession — this could cash in thanks to the zeitgeist. But Wain (who directed) has nothing funny to say and Marino can't find a laugh in front of or behind the camera.

Rudd, riffing away out there in the wilderness — or in that bathroom — can't rescue "Wanderlust" with zingers delivered off the top of his head. And Aniston has enough trouble finding a script with a laugh in it, so don't expect her to improve her latest bad career choice on the set.


Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom


Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.

FEATURED STORIES

THEATER REVIEW
'Hairspray' among season's top musicals
'Hairspray' among season's top musicals

The high-energy dance numbers alone are worth the ticket.

 
MUSIC
Playlists for every summer occasion
Playlists for every summer occasion

Spring is here, summer is on its way and no one wants to get caught hosting a party without music...

 
GUEST LIST
Live Music: Whispertown
Live Music: Whispertown

Whispertown joins us for the latest installment of Guest List, our ongoing video series in which we...

   
Search

On tap Saturday, May. 26

Skateboard art shows, parades, festivals, concerts and some Heartless Bastards make for a packed Memorial Day weekend.

Click for more events »

Register an event »

Latest in the Blogs
Omavore China street style
Filed by Sarah Baker Hansen
May 24 at 11:24 am
Omavore The real Kung Pao Chicken
Filed by Sarah Baker Hansen
May 23 at 2:02 pm
Rock Candy Guest List: Whispertown
Filed by Kevin Coffey
May 23 at 12:15 am
Rock Candy Nickelback still delivering the same
Filed by Kevin Coffey
May 22 at 11:01 pm
Rock Candy Deer Tick smashes through 23 songs at the Waiting Room
Filed by Kevin Coffey
May 21 at 3:49 pm
Jump to a blog:
Movies Opening this week

Movie showtimes and theater listings

Men in Black III - PG-13

Chernobyl Diaries - R

Monsieur Lazhar - PG-13 (exclusively at Film Streams)







Tonight in Prime Time
 

GO GET A COPY! // find a location near you to pick up a magazine

go magazine is Omaha's best weekly source of local entertainment news and information. It's got everything you expected — previews and analysis, complete calendar listing of local events, tips and tricks for living well around town.


Pick one up at a rack near you. or find GO in Thursday's World-Herald.

© 2012 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved