There will be and already has been better comedies this year, but I can almost guarantee that none will be more abstract than
Wanderlust. That abstract vibe is a big part of why
Wanderlust was so damn funny to me. It's a half-satire/half-homage of hippies and their anti-consumerist lifestyle and writer/director David Wain pulls it off brilliantly. You rarely see a comedy with this many colorful characters in the same movie. Each character with the hippie commune has their own unique quirks make this movie all the more fun to watch. Joe Lo Trugilo as a nudist winemaker/author and Alan Alda as the elderly burnout founder of Elysium gleefully steal the show from the other kooky characters. Paul Rudd does his typical straightman act to perfection and maintains a solid chemistry with his on-screen wife Jennifer Aniston (who looks stunning as always). David Wain deserves the most credit here though. He is able to craft a vulgar, charming, and extremely funny film centered around a very unconventional concept. This is very much a "free love", "fuck the corporate fat cats" type of film which I normally don't respond well to, but Wain handles the topic with wit and charm that I glossed right over that.
Wanderlust is about on par with Wain's earlier successes in
Role Models and
Wet Hot American Summer. The humor does not have a wide-spread appeal, but if you like strange, absurdest humor than
Wanderlust is the movie for you.
4/5 Stars
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