Movie Review: 'Wilson'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When Woody Harrelson is on his game, which is most of the time, he is a proficient actor in big parts and small, as easy to enjoy as he is to believe.
In films such as The Messenger and The People vs. Larry Flynt -- for both of which he was Oscar-nominated -- as well as Kingpin, White Men Can't Jump, No Country for Old Men, Zombieland, The Hunger Games franchise, and the recent The Edge of Seventeen, he was a sly, comforting presence.
His lead role in Wilson is neither his rendering of the volleyball in Cast Away nor his go at President Woodrow.
Instead, he stars as a one-of-a-kind misfit. But despite the fact that his turn is anything but generic, the film itself has to be described as a strangely unpleasant experience, a misfire.
Wilson focuses on the title character, a lonely, neurotic, tormented, awkwardly honest middle-aged guy, the kind of misanthrope who loves his dog but hates people – although he does get along with his dog-sitter, played by Judy Greer.
He's the kind of pest who sits right next to individuals in otherwise empty theaters and wakes sleeping passengers on trains, then starts conversations with them that they don't want to have.
It's one thing for a focal character to be unlikable, but quite another to be this creepy and casually insulting.
Wilson discovers the whereabouts of and tracks down his estranged wife, played by Laura Dern, and reunites with her and then, because the abortion he believes she had years ago never actually happened, he gets to meet his teenage daughter – who was adopted by upper-class parents -- for the first time.
This gives him a late shot at having a family and leaving something behind.
Of course, while the way he follows through on this goal is understandable and acceptable, Wilson's overall behavior is outrageous and somewhat twisted.
Old school and computer-hating, Wilson disapproves of the technology-obsessed people around him. He believes that the Internet has obliterated the art of conversation. And yet he hasn't exactly mastered it himself.
Director Craig Johnson, who last directed the excellent dramedy, The Skeleton Twins, works from a screenplay by Daniel Clowes -- probably best known for the graphic novel, Ghost World -- who has adapted his own satirical graphic novel, set in a world lacking in manners or glamour but on the lookout for uncomfortable or irritating truth.
Somehow, though, the film itself is unnecessarily uncomfortable and irritating as well, lacking fluidity and seeming incomplete somehow.
Because Harrelson's usual abundant likability, summoned through that signature goofy grin, is strained and out of reach this time, neither he nor the film remains emotionally engaging. We're not nearly as interested in him as we should be, or as the film needs us to be.
The more we're in Wilson's presence, the less we want to be with him. Consequently, we stop laughing, then we stop caring, and finally we just stop putting up with him and tune out.
So we'll reunite with 2 stars out of 4 for the offbeat character study, Wilson, one man's search for connection that doesn't connect with the audience.
