You don’t generally go to bawdy R-rated comedies stuffed with drug abuse, profanity and nudity for political messages, especially conservative ones. So when such a movie comes along and it unashamedly makes the case for monogamy, stability and private property over collectivist ideals, you should pay attention.
The movie is a Jennifer Aniston-Paul Rudd comedy produced by Judd Apatow called Wanderlust. The pair play a married couple who try to find fulfilling work in Manhattan but can’t afford it. (She is a classic artsy but barely employed type who is working on a documentary about penguins with testicular cancer.) George (Rudd) loses his finance job, so he swallows hard and accepts an offer to stay with his well-off but obnoxious brother (Ken Marino) in Atlanta. George and Linda (Aniston) pile their possessions into their tiny car and head South. Along the way, they pull over at what they think is going to be a bed and breakfast, but the establishment turns out to be a hippie free-love commune full of wacky characters such as a bald and chubby little man whose salient characteristics are that he is writing a novel that seems destined never to be finished, he’s always carrying a glass of red wine and he’s always naked.
Having stayed the night at this strange but friendly place, they move on to George’s brother Rick’s house, where things quickly turn unbearable. It turns out Rick’s fortune is in portable toilets, and his personality is as cuddly as his job. He keeps making bad dirty jokes, calling his brother a loser who doesn’t understand the importance of hard work and making his wife (Michaela Watkins) so bored and alienated that she drinks margaritas all day. Lost for a place to go, George and Linda decide that they at least feel loved at the commune. They move in with the hippies and try to fit in with the ethos of the place, which is led by a furry but charismatic dude named Seth (Justin Theroux) and was co-founded by a crusty old survivor (Alan Alda) of the Flower Power generation.
The expected clash of yuppies and hippies leads to some hilarious moments (as well as some jokes that are repeated too often), but it’s the way the movie allows disillusionment to settle in on George and Linda that gives it meaning. The commune renounces meat eating, capitalism, materialism and individualism while celebrating love, egalitarianism, honesty, openness and drug “experiments.” Each of the latter ideas is gradually shown to be unworkable and flawed as the advantages of the former come to light. For instance, a scene in which the Theroux character commands everyone to sit in a circle and be absolutely forthright with each other leads to bad blood between George and Linda. The compound has no doors, which yields a scene in which George tries to use a toilet and is bewildered to find other residents gathering around him to chat. Drugs are held to be a wonderful way to explore one’s inner self — until Linda climbs into a tree while high on hallucinogens and nearly dies because she thinks she can fly.
40 years late is still OK. Sounds like a bell-wether movie.
The counter-culture encompassed much more than marijuana and sex. It was highly political, activist, and escapist, but also following progressive cues. I laid this out in my memoir http://clarespark.com/2010/10/21/links-to-pacifica-memoirs/. It is not surprising that a movie directed to adolescents would emphasize the naughty aspects of that culture to the exclusion of the more explosive. Look to OWS for examples.
Thanks, It’s bookmarked it later.
Clare, you’re wonderful! We have your icon in a special room, where the entire neighborhood comes to meditate, focused on your persona; and that alone. You were voted “Megalomaniac of the Year, 1878″, unanimously, by the 2 members of your local fan club, here in NYC.Whenever we feel we need to know anything we squat in fron of your icon , grunt, strain and try to- well, you know. Thats how you motivate us!
Is someone seriously contending that Alan Alda finally grew up? His claim to fame was his eternal adolescence. Amorality, coupled with hypocrisy and tripled with ignorance was his worldview.Communists, perverts, babykillers were his heroes and heroines. Don’t tell us, please that he no longer worships at the feet of Idi Amin, Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot! What traumatic experience could have altered his perspectives? Perhaps a glimpse into Reality through a window between suckoffs at the communal bong? Ah, well, better late than never, and better, sort of, some than none.
Bummer, man!
Alternate title: Sounds good in theory.
Better title: Serial – a movie made in 1980 that pretty much goes over the same territory.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081485/
So, no one needs to go see the flick after this chock-full-of-spoilers ‘review’.
Do we see Jennifer’s jennifers or not?
So, apparently, the chock full of spoilers review left enough for you to still check it out, eh? Let us know if you see Jennifer’s jennifers or not.
Especially interesting as it sounds like they created the modern stereotype of the 50 in George’s brother. (See for example, Barbara Streisand in For Pete’s Sake.)
Of course, on some nasty make-believe level, I feel bad George missed the “opportunity”
And I feel great that Jennifer Anniston pounced on it.
Well, OK, it sounds different. But would I spend about $10 to see it? I doubt it. It will probably be on cable in a few weeks. And if you want to see the real-life version of this, just go to any neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan or in Brooklyn where you will really meet people like this (well, maybe not the naked kind, but they think that way). When they’re young, it’s all “free love,” “no committments,” “no possessions,” “live free and get everything you own into an old Honda Civic.” Then go to a suburb of Manhattan and you get the middle-aged version of these same people, with mini vans, homes, 2.3 children, soccer practice, PTA meetings at their schools, and anti-drug classes and safe sex classes. Who needs to see a movie about this. Most of us live it every day in the northeast part of the country.
“2.3 children”
That would be a heathy demographic. I’d guess 1.5.
If only it were true! We are much less likely to find, in numbers great enough to matter compared to the totals, enough of those 2.5 kid families to sustain our nation. Those cynically referenced materialists are the backbone of America, not the bums who more accurately reflect the horrid realities of the counter culture that grew out of the 60s.
Sounds 40 years out of date.
The review makes it seem like the film’s screenwriter just cobbled together 5 episodes of Dragnet then added nudity and foul language. I’m sure Dragnet was “squares-ville” back in the 60′s but it correctly predicted the results of the “counter culture” movement.
Thanks for the heads up. I sincerely love the thoughts behind every last single Judd Apatow film. There’s a brain in there. There’s also a mouth willing to tell really funny, filthy jokes, too.
I didn’t know this was an Apatow movie.
And thank Goodness, Alda gets skewered. That’s the most perfect bit of casting, ever. and he’s got Paul Rudd on a leash. I love every Rudd character in an Apatow film, and detest every character that he plays, otherwise.
Thanks.
ari, you are so right. After seeing “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (a particular favorite), I realized that Judd Apatow is that rare beast conservatives have long dreamed of: an influential Hollywood voice using his powers for good rather than evil. (Filthy words and nudity notwithstanding!)
It sounds like he is speaking in a langauge his audience understands. (i admit, I’ve never heard of him, and never been to one of his movies.)
These guys are mining the same vein of conservative humor as South Park has been for over a decade. Nice to see it finally taking off. Cheers -
apatow is warmer. the kids are realistic.
parker and stone corrupt innocent children characters for laughs. They don’t give a fair hearing to religious characters. They are writing from where they are: young twenties, early thirties, good health, good fortune.
apatow is from a more grownup, tougher and more honest and recognizable place.
They both have their places. But they are different. Which is fantastic- we don’t need one jacket, one pants, a la Mao. We need lots of people talking honestly about all sorts of thing. But- they are different.
Apatow does what Somerset Maugham does in The Razor’s Edge, or what any magician does. He flourishes with his left hand- the foul-mouthed jokes, the awkward situations- and with his right hand, delivers an intelligent plot. He’s sophisticated- we get a full view of the “opposition”s position. Most writers can’t do that- give honest shrift to the other side. It’s the mark of a sophisticate. Literally: that’s what the first sophists did- give full measure to both sides arguments. It’s harder than it looks.
Big fan. big, big fan, here.
Many similar points were made in the television series “The Goode Family” which, sadly, ran for only 12 episodes. We gotta take what we can get – Hollywood so rarely questions liberal ideology.
“The compound has no doors, which yields a scene in which George tries to use a toilet and is bewildered to find other residents gathering around him to chat.”
That’s not a made-up fantasy: There really are hippie kooks who will walk into the bathroom to chat with you while you are sitting on the pot. If you object then you’re just a prisoner of middle-class hangups. They do not recognize closed doors as meaning “please respect my wish for privacy”.
I have had the “pleasure” of witnessing this culture too. Nothing like having a conversation while you are going number two. The sterotype is not far off from reality.
Moreover, the supposedly anti-materialist, money-disdaining Seth turns out to be eager to sell out everyone on the commune for his own individual benefit, and the hippie co-founder played by Alda isn’t actually a vegan – every week he sneaks off to the local greasy spoon to stuff himself with ham and sausage.
I’ve witnessed some of that communal hypocrisy firsthand.
Many of the goo-roos of the 60′s and 70′s were eventually exposed as crass materialists who manipulated the faithful (and the gullible) into the wonders of sex slavery.
I’ll see Wanderlust based on your review.
Hubbie and I occasionally like this kind of movie. We were surprised to enjoy “Couples Retreat” a few years back. We didn’t like “Hall Pass,” however.
Will probably wait until this one comes out on Netflix. We won’t pay to go to the movies unless it is something epic like “War Horse.”
There’s so much junk & nonsense coming from LaLa land, even w/the filthy jokes & nudity, we may hafta go see this just for the final “message”. (altho I’m pretty tired of ‘films’ with a ‘msg.’; at least this sounds like the correct msg!)
Same thing with “Act of Valor”. If we want to see good films that aren’t nauseating and filled with increasingly overt/bold propoganda, then we’ve gotta support ‘em. Here’s hoping Hollyweird’s getting OUR msg.
Hopefully indicative of a new and growing trend, the use of the mass media, in this case a fictional film, to effectively portray the fallacy of the so called utopia longed for by the radical left for decades. It remains to be seen but, if this is indeed the start of a new trend, it will do more to effect positive change than the thousands of well written, intelligent, thoughtful essays that pop up on the conservative side of the internet on a daily basis, nearly all “preaching to the choir.” Spread the message to all your friends, fellow workers, acquaintances and neighbors we’re advised which is like handing out umbrellas in a hurricane. As in that scenario most have far more immediate concerns than giving unsolicited advice serious attention.
The progressive, socialist, left and tyrants of every stripe learned over a century ago that a small minority of determined idealists can influence public opinion with all manner of ideological nonsense via the emerging mass media. It is not at all unfamiliar and it’s commonly referred to as agitprop, propaganda, a narrative carefully controlled and disseminated by a cadre of nefarious, self serving individuals sometimes in the guise of the universally respected “intellectual,” the rumpled professor, the selfless purveyor of truth for its own sake. In the modern era that emerged in the sixties, these radicals realized that slowly and surreptitiously infiltrating the halls of academia with like minded professors teaching their own version of history and idealism to naive, naturally rebellious youth searching for “enlightenment” and confirmation of the superiority of their youthful exuberance, irreverence and wisdom over that of their dowdy, old fashioned, un-cool parents and authority figures, could ultimately achieve more success and realize their radical goals without the bloodshed both sides would suffer in an armed revolt.
These radicals in academia, however small in number, continue to hold sway with their alliance to and co-allegiance with, the Union movement and the iron grip of tenure which makes it almost impossible to shake them loose. Their “product,” aside from those already firmly ensconced in government, is what is commonly referred to today as the main stream media, Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general and, to a lesser extent, the Internet. The mass media is their battleground, they’ve owned it for decades and have used and continue to use it with distressing effectiveness to effectively build a nearly impenetrable wall against any opinion that conflicts with their agenda, an agenda that is turning Reagan’s vision of a “shining city on a hill” to a swamp full of self absorbed, delusional parasites feeding at a trough filled with government handouts extorted from a diminishing number of hard working, patriotic Americans who still love this country, respect its Constitutional foundation and the heritage acquired by personal choice or accident of birth.
Those hardworking Americans who in poll after poll self identify as mostly conservative, 70% by some estimates, are in desperate need of much wider access to this same media. There is no good reason on this earth, other than money and motivation, why they cannot use the same mass media to tear down the wall of false hopes and unrealizable promises that has been built by the socialist, progressive, left. America is in the midst of a quiet, non-violent but deadly revolution between a radical, powerful minority of leftist intellectuals, politicians, media magnates and captains of industry aligned with all, from within and without, who share their innate hatred of America against those of us who believe America’s best days are ahead. This latter eventuality can only occur if this anti-American cabal can be discredited and ultimately defeated. Here is perhaps a movie that may be representative of the beginnings of a crack in that wall.
All conservatives would be well advised to buy tickets, buy the DVD, and watch this movie in numbers that will alert a clueless, liberal, Hollywood machine that their “bottom line” could be much improved with the advent of more of the same. Would “greed” and self interest overcome their leftist, utopian zealotry? Is this movie perhaps indicative that their production of erroneous, historically revisionist, anti-American, anti-conservative pap has already put their bottom line under heavy pressure? The American, Capitalist, profit driven system they supposedly despise, at work? Sweet!
That sounded like my life back in the 70s. I can make money writing scripts for these kinds of movies. Some producer get hold of me.
I don’t get it. After the Wife sleeps around, there is no marriage to go back to. Female infidelity, is a marriage killer. There is no way round that.
So, I don’t get the movie.
Americans, like many others, are ignorant, soft, and easily led … baaa, baaa.
All very good, but you @#$!! gave away the entire #@#@$!! plot! Now there’s no point to going to the movie… well, at least much less of it. NOTE TO SELF: never read movie reviews written by political writers ever again.
That’s nice but you gave away the entire movie’s plot and character motivations and twist and conclusion. APART from THAT, you didn’t spoil it for us. NOTE TO SELF: never read movie reviews by political writers ever again.
You don’t generally go to bawdy R-rated comedies stuffed with drug abuse, profanity and nudity for political messages, especially conservative ones.
so you never wathced Friday the 13th, the one with Freddy and scream. The first to die are those having sex, then those with pot. Only the woman who did not have sex survived.Only her is able to kill the unicorn