Wanderlust

Justin: I grew up watching the State. I love Wet Hot American Summer. So when I heard Relativity Media was producing a spiritual follow-up to WHAS, but set on free-love commune starring Paul Rudd, well, I wanted to dip my balls in it. I think that once you’ve done comedy for as long as David Wain and the other State alumni, you have to keep upping the ante. Maybe comedy is like a drug, and a dose that would kill a first time user is your Tuesday night. This movie is an acid-test. I’m not sure if I passed. This is strong stuff. Wanderlust has an amazing cast. They just keep coming, star after star, from Alan Alda to Jordan Peele. Anyone who has seen Reno 911 or Children’s Hospital will recognize most all of the players. It suffers from a common problem with large ensemble casts: lots of characters, little depth. So much raunch. So much. I enjoyed the hippie commune satire that was going on (grew up in Santa Cruz, remember, so this was familiar territory for me.) It’s peppered with absolutely hilarious scenes from comic actors at the top of their game, like a few local news parodies with the cast of Stella. Wain is the weather guy. I think the idea of tuning in and dropping out is just as cogent today as it was in the Summer of ’69. Free love doesn’t always crack up the way it’s supposed to, however, and our characters find this out the hard way. It’s hard to tell just who this movie is ribbing most: boring suburbanite stiffs, urban corporate wanks or new age hippie baby boomers and their weird friends. It basically says that they all pretty much suck, which leaves the film devoid of any philosophical message. Usually this kind of catharsis stands out in Apatow’s other productions. For me, the most memorable part is probably Rudd’s mirror pep talk to himself. That, and Joe Lo Troglio’s junk.

Chels: Let's just get right to it. This movie sucks. I only slightly feel bad saying that. I'm usually the girl who pulls for that new Jennifer Aniston movie that's coming out, even though I know it's going to suck so freaking bad. For all the movies she makes I keep waiting for another Good Girl or Office Space, but it's just not happening. Oh, and she needs to fire her make up artist - post haste. I ended up really loathing her character at the end of this movie, she's no where near good enough for my Paul. Justin is right about one thing. All the best moments of Wanderlust happen during Paul Rudd's mirror pep talk. Genius, disturbing, but genius. Wait, actually Ken Marino has some pretty great moments too. Marino plays Rudd's uber yuppie douchebag older brother, who's mother clearly did things to him that she did not do to Rudd. There's also a pretty great scene with Marino's tweeny asshole son. My advice would be to skip it, just like most Jennifer Aniston movies.