I have held on to my love for Luke and Owen Wilson as long as I could, but I cannot hold on much longer. I’ve forgiven them for so many increasingly bad movies because I love “Bottle Rocket” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” But the Luke Wilson vehicle “The Wendell Baker Story” both written and directed by Luke Wilson (with additional brother Andrew) has put me over the edge.
To call it a “story” at all is to give this flimsy drivel too much credit. The title character is a handsome con man who thinks the world owes him a living and gets by on his charm without any ambition or direction. Coincidentally, that is an excellent description of the movie itself. Apparently, the Wilsons think so highly of brother Luke’s winning personality and appearance that they seem not to have felt the need to invest more than a half-hour or so in storyline, character development, or script.
Luke Wilson stretches the old acting muscles to portray a loveable loser who develops a conscience during a stint in the gray bar motel and, upon his release, turns over a new leaf to win back the love he once took for granted. Too bad this leaf is even less interesting than the one from the beginning of the film.
Wendell Baker quickly gets a chance to show us how nice a guy he is at his new job in a retirement hotel run by a conniving male nurse- Owen Wilson, who, more than ever before, seemed really to be phoning it in.
His is a stand-out of laziness in a sea of unconvincing performances, which is bad considering most of the actors are playing themselves. Luke Wilson plays a cute goofy man, Eva Mendes plays a pretty young girl, and some old men play old men. And yet, they all failed to pull it off. I know it’s not cool to try, but it’s not that interesting either.
The Wendell Baker Story is currently available to rent.
On the other end of the spectrum is the tres cool short film collection “Paris, je t’aime.” Eighteen short films directed by directors including the Coens, Alfonso Cuaron, Alexander Payne, and many French folks I am not familiar with, cover subject matter as diverse as the directors and actors, who range from Maggie Gyllenhaal to Bob Hoskins. The connecting thread is, of course, Paris.
As you would expect, some of these sequences are more successful than others. Wes Craven goes against type with a romantic short about two lovers at the grave of Oscar Wilde, a sentimental bit of silliness. Sylvain Chomet, the director of the animated marvel “The Triplets of Belleville,” (2003) brings his daffiness to real people in his short.
Well over half of these films are well worth watching, and it’s also interesting to see so many approaches to the same limited length of time. Some filmmakers take their moments to portray a brief slice of life, others make it an entire microcosm, encompassing concepts like soul mates, and showing changes of heart in a moment.
This movie should be particularly interesting, therefore, to the many filmmakers out there who are starting out and trying their hands at short subjects. The rapid turnover from story to story is often bewildering, but this makes for handy comparisons among the films as they clip along.
No effort is made during the film to tie the pieces together. Therefore, the handy little final moments, when the disparate characters suddenly overlap, it is a bit disingenuous and forced. I actually think that interaction throughout might have been interesting, but the single occurrence of it did not hang together for me. However, one false note could not ruin this worthy experiment, and it merits not just one viewing, but several.
“Paris, je t’aime” is currently available to rent.
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
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