In Wanderlust, Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston star as a married couple taking a big step with their life by buying an apartment in one of Manhattan’s more expensive neighborhoods. While purchasing the “micro loft” is stressful, things seem to be looking up for them; George (Rudd) is in line for a promotion and Linda (Aniston) is about to pitch a documentary about penguins with testicular cancer to HBO. Their lives turn upside-down when George’s place of employment gets raided by the Feds and HBO turns Linda’s documentary down – all in the same day. Just like that, they’re broke and homeless. Their only option is to move in with George’s loathsome brother (Judd Apatow alum Ken Marino) and his drunken Stepford wife (Michaela Watkins) in Atlanta.
Enroute to Atlanta, George and Linda stop at a bed and breakfast in lieu of driving themselves crazy. As they pull in, the first person they meet is a nudist named Wayne (Joe Lo Truglio). It turns out he’s one of the more normal inhabitants of the establishment, which turns out to actually be a commune. When the couple realize Atlanta life isn’t for them – from living with George’s family to working for his brother – George and Linda decide to make the bold step of disconnecting from the real world and joining the aforementioned commune. It’s there where most of the comedy ensues.
Rudd is so good in this type of role. As George, Rudd’s discomfort and awkwardness with commune life, really shines through in his performance. Director and co-writer David Wain really knows how to make Rudd shine (as seen here and in their previous collaboration Role Models). He also knows how to fill his movies with great ensemble casts. The commune members are made up of a mixture of some of the Apatow usual suspects like Kathryn Hahn and Kerry Kenney, as well as popular stars like Alan Alda, Malin Akerman, and Linda Lavin.
Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd in “Wanderlust.” Photo by Photo Credit: Gemma La Mana – © Copyright: 2011 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Aside from the culture shock conflicts that happen between George, Linda, and commune life, the other two main conflicts involve lands developer wanting to use the commune land for a casino and the tension between George and commune leader Seth (Justin Theroux). George and Seth have the classic battle of one-upsmanship. Everything George does, Seth can do better, which makes Linda start to fall for him a bit, and that makes George extremely jealous. Their exchanges are humorous, but ultimately predictable.
That predictability is actually one of the only downfalls with Wanderlust. Each character is an archetype and they all follow their expected paths. The movie is funny, but the only characters who really see growth in the movie are George, Linda, and Marissa (the drunk Stepford wife). Even though some of the jokes fall flat, the cast and film really has heart, and with a quick 90-ish minute running time, Wain packs in a lot in a very short time. Wanderlust breezes by at a rapid clip, which makes it feel like some of the character development was lost. Ultimately though, even though it’s not my favorite Apatow-related production, it’s far from the worst.
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