Things aren’t going well for married couple Linda (Jennifer Aniston) and George (Paul Rudd).
HBO has rejected Linda’s documentary on penguins suffering from testicular cancer. They felt it wasn’t sexy or violent enough…And…George’s company has just been raided by the FBI. Oh…he’s also been fired.
To make matter worse, Linda and George can no longer afford their West Village ‘micro loft’ that they moved into two days ago. They were assured by Real Estate lady, Shari (Linda Lavin) that in today’s market, it was a steal. Of course, when they tell Shari they want to sell it, she laughs in their face…without moving a muscle.
So…now that our two upscale New Yorkers are broke and on the verge of being homeless, there’s only one thing left for them to do…
Get in the car and drive to Atlanta, Georgia where George’s brother resides.
What follows is a very long, and very funny car ride set to music. When the couple gets too tired to drive, they come upon a lovely little bed and breakfast to spend the night.
The place is called Elysium and George and Linda soon discover, this is not your every day B & B.
No sooner have they bed down for the night, when they’re awaken by the sound of drums. George wanders downstairs to investigate and he’s soon followed by Linda. What they find is…
A whole bunch of weird, wonderful, eccentric hippies having a party…smoking pot, dancing, singing and it doesn’t take long before George and Linda join the fun.
Of course when morning comes, they have to say goodbye to their new friends and head for…
Atlanta…where George’s super obnoxious, wealthy brother Rick (Ken Marino) lives with his angry son and alcoholic, pill popping wife, Marissa (the very funny, Michaela Watkins) Rick is more than happy to give George a job in his Porta-Potty business, but not before rubbing his success in George’s face.
It doesn’t take long before Linda and George make a mad dash out of there and drive straight back to…
Elysium…where after a little debate, they decide that this place is home. A home that includes a very different life-style…that eventually makes Linda and George question…how free they really want to be.
Director and writer David Wain along with co-writer Ken Marino have populated their script with a lot of very funny bits as well as wonderful, colorful characters…including Alan Alda, Justin Theroux as the self-appointed Guru/ladies man, Lauren Ambrose, Kathryn Hahn, Malin Akerman and nudist Joe Lo Truglio, just to name a few.
Is ‘Wanderlust’ a film with a big, deep message…?…Not really, but it is a movie that will definitely entertain you. At least it did that for me and that’s why I gave it 3 1/2 bagels out of 5.
Check out our video to see how many bagels John, the other half of ‘Two Jews On Film’ gave ‘Wanderlust’ and what he thought of it.
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