I have a theory. I call it my Why The Cast of Friends Are Box Office Poison Theory’. It’s always difficult to move away from a long running TV series, so the odds are always stacked against the stars of any successful sitcom, but for Jennifer Aniston and her cohorts it was so much worse and it’s all down to anti-nostalgia.
Friends summed up the glorious trouble free era that was the 90s in weekly half-hour doses. We thought nothing of the idea that a coffee waitress could afford half the rent of a huge New York loft-conversion, or that professionals in their late 20s could mooch around in a coffee shop all day discussing frivolous subjects and making pithy remarks. But it was never destined to last, and things have gotten so bad now that we can only look back on the era that was personified by Friends with a bitter resentment of how great things used to be, and poor Aniston and chums have had to suffer the repercussions of the cynicism that a decade of war, economic collapse and environmental destruction have engendered.
All of which is a roundabout way of trying to explain why a high calibre comedy like Wanderlust has bombed out of sight at the US box-office in an entirely undeserved fashion.
Linda and George (Anniston and Paul Rudd) are a married couple with problems. He’s just been let go from his 9-5 grind and she’s constantly distracted by various flights of fancy and can’t hold down a career. Unable to stay in New York they go to stay with George’s obnoxious brother Rick (the excellent Ken Marino, who also shares writing credit) but on the way stumble across Elysium, a hippie commune that broadens both their perspectives.
On the face of it, this is a fairly standard fish out of water comedy and as such is destined to live-or-die on the strengths of the jokes and set pieces. It is fortunate then that Wanderlust is immensely strong in both respects. For all the earlier talk of Jennifer Aniston, make no mistake, this is Paul Rudd’s movie. He delivers what can only be described as a masterclass in deadpan improv and arguably one the strongest performances of his career to date. Combined with sharp writing that really cuts to the heart of how awkward it can be for humans to communicate belief to one-another, Wanderlust packs a lot more comic punch than your average romantic comedy.
If a criticism is to be made of Wanderlust it is that, aside from a couple of gross-out moments, it doesn’t take many risks. Plenty of themes are touched on, the idea of sustainable community, a natural existence vs modern conveniences and the moral implications of free-love in a committed relationship, but writer/director David Wain perhaps tries to keep a few too many plates spinning and no issue is ever given enough screen-time to give the story that added little extra substance it needs. The film’s final quarter also falls a little flat, with character choices and epiphanies seemingly pulled out of thin-air. You’ll have seen worse ways to end a comedy, but the way the story moves from crisis to resolution in under 15 minutes feels like a cop-out of sorts.
Despite all this however, Wanderlust is a very pleasant surprise. A combination of well realised characters and genuine hilarity makes the occasional slip fairly forgivable and is enough to push Wanderlust comfortably clear of “average” and into the realm of “really quite good”.
Overall Verdict: What appears a first glance to be a bog-standard “lifestyle-clash” comedy elevates itself to something more. Amiable, charming and, in places, gut-achingly funny, Wanderlust is definitely worth taking a chance on.
Review: Alex Hall