Review of Wanderlust (2012) by Jean-François M — 16 Jul 2012

A truly hilarious adult comedy that isn't utterly dim-witted and ridiculously stupid is extremely hard to come by these days. "Wanderlust," starring Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston and directed by David Wain, is without a doubt the funniest, balls out comedy of the year. Packed with a fabulous cast, a coherent story and a righteously side-splitting script, it's a wonder why it's had a relatively poor showing at the box office with a measly six and half million dollar weekend opening.

Perhaps the simple fact that we have been constantly bombarded by typical Hollywood garbage for so long that our innate, unadulterated sense of humor has been stunted and we've become jaded to the point that we no longer find comedy relatively funny. Or it could be that the average American has been taught from an early age that the male and female nude form is indecent and inappropriate, so in a film where an abundant amount of full frontal nudity is present, people tend to get a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed, thereby automatically rejecting the film's merit.

In any case, "Wanderlust" would not have been nearly as funny without the aforementioned exposed nature of the film, nor would it have been as enjoyable without this extremely talented cast of veteran comedians including Alan Alda, who has one of the funniest lines I've ever heard in a film. The 98 minutes of non-stop outrageous entertainment revolves around Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd as a couple struggling to make ends meet as they stumble upon a 60's style commune filled with free thinking, free loving and, in the case of Joe Lo Truglio's character, free balling community of 21st century hippies led by self-proclaimed Guru Seth (played by Justin Theroux).

Now this may not be the smartest comedy ever and it might have gone a little too far with a couple of it's scenes, particularly as Rudd stands in front of a mirror spouting sexually obscene phrases for nearly 5 minutes as he tries to psych himself into sleeping with one of the commune locals, but altogether this is a winner in my book. It has just the right amount of lewd and lascivious behavior mixed with an overall uplifting theme so that by the end you walk out of the theater filled with more joy and happiness than you came in with.