REVIEW: Wanderlust

Wanderlust is a mediocre comedy about New Yorkers Linda (Jennifer Aniston) and George (Paul Rudd) attempting to find themselves amongst an “Intentional Community” –or commune to you and me. After George loses his job and they both lose their home the husband and wife agree to spend two weeks at “Elysium”, an apparently idyllic commune in Georgia.

Cue nudist winemakers, placenta soup, greedy corporate stooges and an awful niggling feeling that this could have been funny. Rudd and Aniston seem to have realised halfway through filming that script is, to put it lightly, lacking. Rather than injecting the special talent sparkle we all know they have, the stars just give up. Director David Wain relies on the type of comedy that comes from extended scenes of awkwardness. The scenes are long, yes, and awkward, definitely, but both cast and director seem to have long forgotten about the comedy bit.

It is such a shame to see after the brilliance of Aniston in Friends and Rudd’s hilarious performance in Knocked Up. Both have proven time and again that they have excellent comic timing and an appreciation for what does and doesn’t make us laugh, yet here they are in Wanderlust.
That isn’t to say the film doesn’t have its moments. How can horses in the bedroom and conversations on the toilet not be funny, right? The rest of the cast do very well as the not-quite-all-there hippy background haze, with Joe Lo Truglio pulling off a particularly memorable nudist. But maybe it’s just that Wain manages to make his characters even more character-less than most that really kills this film.

If you’re looking for a good Jennifer Aniston comedy turn to 2011’s Horrible Bosses. Or better yet, if you are keen for a bit of Paul Rudd too, dig out the Friends DVDs and reflect on what comedy can do at its very best. I think maybe it speaks for itself that this film doesn’t even provide enough content to write more than 400 words on how dull it is; Wanderlust is the film to watch if nothing else is on, and somebody else is paying.

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