If anyone walking into a theater to see “Wanderlust” has any hope of enjoying it, he or she will need to check both modesty and shame at the door because the film has thrown them both off a tall skyscraper. And though “Wanderlust,” starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston, is at times an exercise in excess, it is a hilarious and mostly enjoyable exercise.
The film revolves around the married pair of George (Rudd) and Linda (Aniston), who live a high-stress, fast-paced lifestyle in New York City before their collective financial situation takes a nosedive. This forces the pair to travel to Atlanta to live with George’s verbally abusive brother, Rick (played by a scene-stealing Ken Marino).
On the way, they stumble onto a bed-and-breakfast that is in fact a commune called Elysium, occupied by a motley group of bohemians. After a night of intense culture shock, George and Linda fall in love with the Elysium, and after a couple of days at Rick’s place, they return to live at the commune for a trial period of two weeks.
And from that starting point, let the antics begin. “Wanderlust” manages to create a lovable cast of farcical characters who seem both absurd and intensely relatable at the same time, from a nudist-winemaker-novelist named Wayne (Joe Lo Truglio) to the eccentric co-founder of the commune, Carvin (Alan Alda).
Rudd and Aniston both turn in good performances, with Rudd especially capturing the personality of a fundamentally grounded man (not the commune type) struggling to support his wife financially. But he has become frustrated with her after her frequent whimsical decisions to start a new career. For example, in her filmmaker phase, Linda produced a documentary about the Arctic that includes a vignette of a penguin with testicular cancer. HBO, to Linda’s surprise, turned down the film.
But Rudd and Aniston, though they are the names on the marquee, are not the real stars of “Wanderlust.” The stars are the inhabitants of Elysium. And the best, most hilarious character in this ragtag cast is Seth (Justin Theroux), the ultimate parody of a commune inhabitant. Seth is a walking bag of cliches, an absurdist shaman whose antics include angry gesticulating, which is exactly what it sounds like.
While Seth is arguably the antagonist in the film (though whether or not there is a true antagonist in the film is debatable), he is also the most lovable. Theroux’s total devotion to the role is infectious, and Seth is one of the most entertaining comedic characters in any film so far this year.
That being said, this film is not for those who don’t appreciate cringe-laughter. There’s plenty to go around, and occasionally these segments go on a bit too long, becoming gratuitous instead of funny. In a blooper of one particularly vulgar section, shown in the credits, Rudd even says that he is grossing himself out.
“Wanderlust” is not a comedy classic. It’s flawed, to be sure. But somehow, the occasional flaws in the moviemaking are erased by the human flaws of the characters in it. If viewers can suspend their inhibitions for a couple of hours, they will find “Wanderlust” to be a funny and endearing movie with an excellent and cohesive ensemble cast.
““ Andrew Bain
Email Bain at
abain@media.ucla.edu.