SYNOPSIS:
Wendell Baker (Luke Wilson) is a dreamer and schemer whose latest scam lands him in jail, alienating him from his longtime girlfriend (Eva Mendes). Eternally optimistic, Wendell makes the most of his time behind bars and vows to turn his life around. Upon release, he gets a job at a retirement hotel, where he befriends some of the elderly residents. Wendell's new friends advise him on how to win back his girlfriend, while he helps them battle the hotel's evil head nurse Neil King (Owen Wilson) and his right-hand man McTeague (Eddie Griffin).
MOVIE REVIEW:
Luke Wilson’s writing/directing debut “The Wendell Baker Story” has the look and feel of a Wes Anderson movie. Certainly, Luke’s two most highly acclaimed movies are the Wes Anderson pictures “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” so it’s probably no surprise he’d try to emulate Wes Anderson. Like “Rushmore”, “The Wendell Baker Story” has at its heart a deluded dreamer, the amiable con man Wendell Baker, who gets busted for selling illegal Texas ID cards to illegal immigrants.
Ever the optimist with the sun-shiny personality, Wendell breezes through life with little clue what he wants to do with it. Yes, it’s almost as if Wendell never quite grew out of adolescence. He’s not the only quirky character around- there’s also his best friend Reyes (Jacob Vergas), two cheeky old men (Harry Dean Stanton and Seymour Cassel), a wealthy recluse (Kris Kristofferson) and the wicked male nurse Neil (Owen Wilson) and his sidekick McTeague (Eddie Griffin).
It’s quite the ensemble cast that Luke Wilson has assembled, including a cameo by Will Ferrell in a surprisingly low-key performance. Pity then that the situations that his story puts their characters in are just as low-key and unremarkable. Not Wendell’s journey of self-discovery nor his journeys of adventure with the trio of formidable codgers (the two old men and the recluse) is likely to leave much of an impression- for Luke Wilson doesn’t quite make them particularly amusing or emotionally heartfelt.
Indeed, “The Wendell Baker Story” feels more like a pastiche of individual stories held together by the thread of Wendell Baker’s own life. What begins as a story of Wendell’s coming-of-age goes off in a variety of tangents that Luke Wilson and his co-director/brother Andrew Wilson try to bring to a closure in the same way they began. They are only half-successful, as “The Wendell Baker Story” loses your attention halfway and never quite gets it back.
This being the directorial debuts of both Wilson brothers, Luke and Andrew sure have a long way to go before they achieve the comedic greatness of Wes Anderson. “The Wendell Baker Story” is at best a poor cousin of Anderson’s works and its strongest redeeming factor are the delightful performances by its star cast. Otherwise, this is too sporadically enjoyable to really be anything substantial.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
"Afternoon At Luke's With Harry Dean Stanton And Seymour Cassel” features writer/directors Luke and Andrew Wilson in conversation with veteran actors Harry Dean Stanton and Seymour Cassel about their careers and also their lives. “Making Wendell Baker” is a standard behind-the-scenes look at this low-budget effort which the ensemble cast clearly had fun doing. “Commentary by Luke and Andrew Wilson” is more Luke than Andrew since you don’t really hear the latter Wilson brother much. It’s a surprisingly uninvolving track, especially if you’re expecting to hear how passionate the Wilson brothers were about this.
Rounding up the extras are some deleted scenes, a “Special Musical Performance by Billy Joe Shaver” singing “Live Forever”, a collection of stills from the movie, and the theatrical trailer.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer of this Code 3 DVD looks only slightly better than those VCDs of old, but this is also due to the low-budget nature of this production. Audio comes in two tracks, Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1, but there’s little more the 5.1 track can offer.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 13 October 2009 |
