Wanderlust

[BillBrasky]

Release Date: October 7, 2011
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: David Wain
Screenwriter: David Wain, Ken Marino, Paul Rudd
Starring: Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Theroux, Malin Akerman, Lauren Ambrose, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Michaela Watkins, Kathryn Hahn
Genre: Comedy
Plot Summary: George and Linda are an overextended, stressed out Manhattan couple. After George is downsized out of his job, they find themselves with only one option: to move in with George’s awful brother in Atlanta. On the way there, George and Linda stumble upon Elysium, an idyllic community populated by colorful characters who embrace a different way of looking at things. Money? It can’t buy happiness. Careers? Who needs them? Clothes? Only if you want them. Is Elysium the fresh start George and Linda need? Or will the change of perspective cause more problems than it solves?

David Wain tweeted and linked to this first promo photo:

[Itslikeimsayin]

Here's this.

Also, there seems to be some confusion over the release date now. On Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast, Marino and Aukerman said January, but Wain still said October 7. But then this week on Seven Second Delay, I'm pretty sure Wain referred to it as coming out "next year."

[BillBrasky]

Yeah, I was wondering about this too. Everything I've seen online indicates that it's coming out October 7th. However, if that's the case we should be seeing a trailer for it now- most movies that are coming out in October have trailers already running in theaters.
Rudd has "Our Idiot Brother" coming up next month too- I bet the movie will probably be pushed back; maybe Wain knows more about that than the movie sites do yet.

[isoS]

January 13th I think.

[Itslikeimsayin]

But why? It's been slated for Oct. 7 for months.

[BillBrasky]

New release date: February 24th

[BillBrasky]

This looks great! Rudd's delivery of his line when Aniston asks him why he's not at work is amazing. The humor in this looks a lot more David Wain-like than "Role Models".

[BillBrasky]

[BillBrasky]

New red-band trailer:

[BillBrasky]

This was slight, but mostly enjoyable. There is a large amount of goodwill engendered by the simple fact that so many people we like are in this- not just Rudd and Marino and Kerri Kenney and Jo Lo Truglio, but also Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and Wain himself, participating in a fun little mini-"Stella" reunion in their two scenes together as a wacky morning news show team. In fact, there are a huge amount of really talented comedians in this- Keegan Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Michaela Watkins (very funny as Marino's alcoholic wife), Kathryn Hahn, Todd Barry, etc. Not every joke works, but there are enough in-jokes and nods to the director's previous work in it that I think most people here will like it (Mather Zickel plays Jim Stansel in this one, for those keeping track).

There is one scene where Rudd's character is standing in front of a mirror and trying to psych himself up to have sex with Malin Ackerman's character, and he starts saying "My di----ick" in increasingly silly ways. I thought this kind of owed more to the Judd Apatow style of "just start filming, and we'll film for 18 minutes while you adlib a bunch of stuff and we'll edit it down into a scene". It also kind of reminded me of that stupid "Slappa da bass" stuff from I Love You, Man (not a good thing to be reminded of).

At other times, Wain's comedic sensibility seemed to be at odds with the majority of the material. Like at the end of the movie, there's a scene where Jessica St. Clair is playing a female news reporter and she's doing a story about grape stomping with LoTruglio's character. Yep, you guessed it- she falls over while she's doing the grape stomping and then goes "Oh oh oh oh oh", like that lady in the Youtube video. I laughed at this, but I don't think anybody else in the audience got the reference. A lot of the movie was like this- the humor was mostly predictable, but then there would be something odd or left-of-center like this thrown in that alt-comedy fans would appreciate. I don't foresee this being a big mainstream success like Role Models was. One positive thing about it was that it was short- it was only about 93 minutes, so at least it didn't drag on like a lot of Apatow's movies tend to do.

[scamboogah]

Well, as long as it's not long and terrible like those awful Judd Apatow movies....

[JKwac]

I saw it last night and thought it was really, really funny. Like Role Models, the mix of mainstream and Wain-style humor works well, and the cast is incredible.

[BillBrasky]

Yeah, reading my review back I think it comes off as more negative than I intended. There's lots of funny stuff in the movie, moreso in the first half- near the end it starts to drag a little, but then the cameo by Showalter, Black, and Wain at the end livens things up again. It does have the same mainstream-meets-David Wain quality that Role Models had, although I think RM was a little bit better because the premise was more relatable to a mainstream audience and the characters were a little more likeable, whereas this was a little more limited in scope. It's worth seeing though.

[Gern Blanston]

I'm really looking forward to seeing it this weekend. It also sounds like the DVD/blu-ray will be incredible, as there will be a "bizarro cut" of the movie included.

In an interview with David Wain:

Is the bizarro cut the same plot, just different takes?

It’s the same plot but it’s a combination of whether it’s different takes, different jokes, totally different scenes that were cut and replaced, different ways of editing. Everything’s different about the bizarre cut.

And, from an interview with Ken Marino:

Beaks: I'm interested in this "bizarro cut".

Marino: For the DVD, there will be a crazy "bizarro cut", which will essentially be a whole other version of the movie. It takes it into bizarro places. If a lot of those scenes were in the movie you saw, we wouldn't be able to get the audience back. We pushed it too far. But you have to shoot those to see if they work, and see how far you can push it. And in a DVD alternate universe cut, it works; you get to see all of the other stuff in a fun way.

[AstroChicken]

True story: I used to think Jennifer Aniston was overrated, now I find her very attractive and charming. I honestly think the government is sneaking something into our water to make everyone love Jennifer Aniston, but I can't prove it.

[Aaron1933]

As far as I'm concerned, David Wain is four-for-four in his directorial career. I thought this movie was great, and stayed true to the tone and style that he's established in all of his other movies. I was shocked at how successfully he made the move into mainstream comedy with Role Models, and was still amazed and impressed that he continued the winning streak with Wanderlust.

Also: I felt like I was the only one laughing in the theater for most of the movie. And the reviews have been mixed. What is turning people off about this movie?

[ThisMyShow]

Check out David Wain on the new episode of my podcast http://tinyurl.com/7ec34l5

[stevenac]

I loved the movie. I was a little concerned when I saw the rotten tomatoes score, but it really was great. It wasn't ground breaking in any way, but I laughed more than any other comedy in recent memory (including Bridesmaids (I've said too much)).

I'd rank it below WHAS and Role Models, but above The Ten, which isn't a knock on The Ten by the way. I love them all!

[Aaron1933]

Estimates show it opened Friday in 8th place. I (foolishly) hope more people get their act together and see it this weekend.

[thecomedian]

I also believe Wain is 4 for 4 and rank his films as follows: WHAS, RM, Wanderlust, and The Ten. Having seen 21 Jump Street, we are off to a strong start for R rated comedies. I expect Friends with Kids to keep up the trend.