Wanderlust (2012) *

Directed by:  David Wain

Starring:  Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston, Alan Alda, Justin Theroux, Malin Akerman

As the end credits rolled on Wanderlust, I thought about the large number of scripts that were rejected in favor of this one.   I thought about how movie studios should be more cautious with their money.   I thought about why anyone involved in this production thought this was a finished product worth showing to the public.     I thought and thought and came up with no answers.     Wanderlust is a comedy dead zone.    I get what I deserve, though, since the tagline states, "From the makers of Role Models" and that was a movie that didn't work for me.   I should've known to stay away.

Wanderlust stars actors whom in the right roles can be very appealing, but there are no right roles here.    Paul Rudd stars as George, who is married to Linda (Aniston) and they find their world turned upside down when the bank Rudd works for goes belly up.    They are forced to move from New York to live with George's overbearing brother down South.    On the way, the couple stumbles across a commune which promotes free love, peace, health foods, and even in some cases public nudity by a commune member you wish wouldn't promote it.    George and Linda take a liking to the place mostly because the script requires it.    Wanderlust seems to think that the goofballs who occupy the commune are funny and do funny things, but that's a colossal miscalculation.     If I were around these people for longer than one hour, I'd be plotting my escape.

There is more to this than just the fish-out-of-water aspects.    Apparently, there is a dispute over ownership of the commune's land and the county will take over if the owner (Alda) can't produce the deed.    We can't have that, so the group gains public support by acting like putzes for local news stories.    Uh huh.   So the commune joins together to save the land, which is an underwhelming resolution to an already very underwhelming movie.    In the meantime, the temptation by other sexy people at the commune put a strain on George and Linda's marriage.    There is one scene in which Paul Rudd talks to the mirror in preparation for putting the moves on a sexy girl.   He talks about how he would like to do things to her vagina and goes on and on painfully.    I was embarrassed for Rudd after a while, even if he wasn't.  

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, who co-stars, are an item now and apparently they met while filming Wanderlust.    At least something good came from the filming and I'm sure the tabloids are thankful, but I can't imagine either person looking back on Wanderlust as anything other than a lapse in judgment for taking part in such a pathetic exercise.     Maybe it was funnier on paper.   If so, that's where it should've stayed.