Sometimes there is a fine line between a “romantic comedy” and just an everyday “comedy” film. For instance, “Superbad” (2007) would most accurately be described as simply a comedy while “Knocked Up” presents a more difficult distinction between the two genres. The best way to pinpoint your romantic comedies is to identify whether or not the core plot of the story revolves around the relationship of your protagonists. While Jim Carrey’s “Bruce Almighty” culminated with Carrey and the beautiful Jennifer Aniston living happily ever after, the main focus of the film was actually Bruce receiving the power of God and, therefore, should not be considered a romantic comedy. “Wanderlust” rides the line between the two genres. While the main focus does seem to be the characters’ relationship, it seems “Wanderlust” tries to mix the raunchy comedy with the rom-com in a way that doesn’t necessarily read so well.
“Wanderlust” tells the coming-of-age-story of a couple’s relationship. Due to the current economic crisis, George (Paul Rudd) and Linda (Jennifer Aniston) are forced to move out of their tiny loft apartment in New York and take shelter in a small and very liberated “hippie” commune of sorts called “Elysium.” The new lifestyle starts to take a toll on the couple’s relationship and pits George and Linda, as well as the two lifestyles, against each other. While the film didn’t lack any kind of laughable moments, the film rarely had laugh-out-loud moments. Many of the jokes fell flat and were only worthy of a mild grin. The jokes did not seem to organically emerge from the plot line itself; rather they seemed like cute little anecdotes thrown in every once in a while and not particularly pertaining to the story. The story’s overall plot line was a bit muddled by too many side plots, which made it confusing to keep a good eye on the story at hand.
What saved this film from being a total miss were the actors. With a team of comedians like Paul Rudd, Alan Alda, Kerri Kenney and Joe Lo Truglio, it would be unlikely that something funny won’t come of it. These actors were able to take average jokes and interpret them in a hilarious fashion. While much was likely due to extensive improvisation, Rudd and his team’s priceless word stumbling and delivery of awkward moments really kept this ship from sinking. It is no secret the acting was one of the film’s strongest attributes, but Justin Theroux as Seth, the commune’s pseudo guide, really failed to hit the mark with his over-the-top spiritual guru persona. He seemed to be forcing every line out of his mouth with no believability whatsoever. All Theroux managed to do was spend the entire film doing an incredibly awful Ron Burgundy impression. As for Aniston, she was enjoyable as always, yet she didn’t do what we all thought she was going do. I think I can speak for men and women alike when I say it was a real shame.
“Wanderlust” seemed to be on the fence with its raunchy material. It was as if the filmmakers couldn’t decide whether or not to go for it. The film wasn’t clean enough to be PG-13 and, yet with the R rating, failed to deliver the kind of material that we as an audience expect to see in films advertised as this one. They could only talk about it but never show it, save for a few dozen unsurprising and off-putting senior citizens baring it all for their few seconds of fame.
All in all, “Wanderlust” is an enjoyable movie to see but really did not pack the punch it needed. It will probably reach its prime in RedBox rentals. If your comedy collection consists of “Superbad,” “Knocked Up,” “I Love You, Man” and the like, you will be slightly disappointed with what this film has to offer. Then again comedy is a very relative subject. If you don’t believe me than I urge you to go ahead and check it out for yourself. While this film doesn’t receive my high recommendation, you just might get a kick out of it. For those of you who do decide to see this film, keep a look out for that bad Ron Burgundy impression. At least I got something right.
