‘Wanderlust’ barely saved by Rudd, Aniston’s star power
In recent news, Jennifer Aniston received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She more than deserves it with her numerous contributions to the movie industry, as well as her recognition from “Friends.” However, her stream of success has become overshadowed by another awful movie like “The Break-Up” (2006), “The Bounty Hunter” (2010) and “Just Go with It” (2011).
Luckily for Aniston, her latest film has her partnered up with the best friend of any comedy movie, Paul Rudd. Enter “Wanderlust,” the latest Judd Apatow film that falters with stereotypical hippie eccentricities and tired male-organ humor. However, it barely manages to make up for these with its talented comedic performances.
Aniston and Rudd play Linda and George, a determined Manhattan couple whose financial fortunes are up in smoke after one particularly bad day. George gets fired from his job after an FBI raid forces him to shut down his office, while Linda’s documentary movie about penguins with testicular cancer gets rejected by HBO. Opportunity knocks for George when his materialistic brother Rick offers him a job in Atlanta, so they pack their bags and head south.
However, after a couple of days of quiet despair and angry tirades in Atlanta, George and Linda make a break for the hippie commune of Elysium with the promise of a simpler life. George ends up intrigued at the lifestyle, but Linda isn’t all that impressed. However, their contradicting viewpoints begin to reverse after Linda “drinks the Kool-Aid.”
There really isn’t much to the plot, aside from a rough subplot about a missing deed and ominous suited men who want to plow over to the commune to build a casino. The entire movie is basically one set piece after another, so much that we don’t really become invested in whether or not George and Linda will accept their new life once the pot smoke clears.
The ultimate problem with “Wanderlust” comes with its status as a Judd Apatow–produced film: It just doesn’t have the heart of the better Apatow productions. David Wain (“Role Models”) directs this as if he doesn’t care what he does with the material, just throwing stuff together and hoping something sticks.
“Wanderlust” is the perfect title in more ways than one, as the movie often wanders around with its comedy and plot. There are times when it’s absolutely hilarious with its hippie humor, while other moments feel too stale and tired due to the stoner-joke overload. The majority of the sophomoric gags cluster around naked men, drugs and Rudd talking dirty and making funny faces at the mirror.
If anything comes off as remotely comical, it’s mostly thanks to the supporting cast, with Justin Theroux leaving the biggest impression. His character, Seth, is the guitar-picking head of these 21st century hippies who has an attraction toward Linda, and has been out of touch with modern society so long that he mocks George and Linda for their reliance on Walkmans, VCRs and Nintendo power gloves.
Even though the stereotypical portrayal of the hippie commune is cranked up to 11; the wacky antics of these free spirits keep us mildly amused. There’s Malin Akerman as the sexually liberated vixen who makes a play for George, Lauren Ambrose as the pregnant flower child, Joe Lo Truglio as the nudist wine maker and Alan Alda as the senile old man who has lived in the same house for ages.
Rudd does his usual “keep a straight face while everybody else acts goofy” routine, but it works for him. That considerable charm and improvisatorial brio that he so often flaunts are the saving graces of this movie. Rudd is always a pleasure to watch in these types of movies, whether he’s being the uptight fish out of water or giving an unhinged pep talk to a certain body part.
Aniston, surprisingly enough, actually shines in this film, with her most hilarious moment being after taking a hallucinogenic drug and believes she can fly.
As a raunchy comedy with overused humor, “Wanderlust” still has its moments. This is another hit-or-miss comedic project that would have been more of a miss if not for the film’s stars, particularly Rudd and Theroux.