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Judd Apatow is at it again.
The wildly successful writer and producer of movies like “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Step Brothers” and “Superbad” has put out a new movie starring two well-known actors and a cast of familiar faces that turns out to be funnier than one may originally think.
This new film, “Wanderlust,” stars Paul Rudd (“Our Idiot Brother”) and Jennifer Aniston (“Horrible Bosses”) as George and Linda, a couple that moves to Atlanta from New York City when George loses his job.
They are all set to move in with George’s older brother Rick (Ken Marino, “Role Models,”) yet after a long day of driving and before reaching Rick’s house, George and Linda stop at what they think is a bed and breakfast for some R&R. What they don’t realize, however, is that this rest stop is actually a hippie commune named Elysium. After Rick’s demeanor is incredibly annoying, the couple returns to Elysium and learns more about their relationship and the true personalities of the commune’s residents than they could have imagined.
This film is much funnier than it seemed on the previews. (After all, as popular as Aniston is, she is not the same type of “funny” as the typical cast of Apatow’s other films, like Will Ferrell and Jonah Hill.)
The supporting cast had some recognizable faces who delivered quite a few great jokes. Elysium’s owner, Carvin (Alan Alda, “30 Rock”) suffers the mental damage of too much LSD use in his youth. The “Atlanta PM” news crew, starring Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter (“Michael and Michael Have Issues”) and Zandy Hartig (Sweet Dee from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), also makes a hilariously unexpected cameo appearance.
While this movie isn’t exactly “quotable,” every resident of Elysium has a unique personality (picture a nudist winemaker/novelist) that will undoubtedly make the audience laugh.
This movie and its successful cast provide an entertaining watch, but the fact that “Wanderlust” is a deviation from Apatow’s typical work may disappoint his hardcore fans. Yes, some of his other movies include romantic aspects, but this love story isn’t as humorous as one would expect, even though it tried to be funny.
Fortunately, for casual moviegoers, Rudd’s hilarious one-liners and the comically uncomfortable scenes throughout the film will be sure to leave a lasting impression.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
A previous version of this article misidentified Zandy Hartig as Kaitlin Olson.
