[DVD Review (R2)] THE WENDELL BAKER STORY
After much “buzz” at a variety of US film festivals, Luke and Andrew Wilson’s lowkey indie comedy, The Wendell Baker Story, disappeared from view. It’s plethora of stars (Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Eddie Griffin, Eva Mendes, Will Ferrell, Seymour Cassell, Krist Kristofferson and Harry Dean Stanton) all spoke highly of it in a variety of interviews for other projects but getting your hands on it - especially here in the UK - was an almost impossibility.
Then, as low-key as the film itself, it just slide (almost embarrassingly) onto a straight-to-DVD release in the UK. Was the “buzz” just “over-zealous hype”? Was the film so “low-key” that it’s barely interesting? Is it worth your time?
To all those questions I can only but answer with more questions? Did you like Bottle Rocket? Would a sort of semi-side sequel interest you? Would you be interested in watching a Wes Anderson movie without Wes Anderson? If so, then The Wendell Baker Story just might be worth your time. Hell, to be honest, it’s got such an assured cast and a lovely, inoffensive nature that this is still a flick worth setting aside some time for if you’re bored on a rainy day.
Near the Texas-Mexico border, Wendell Baker (Luke Wilson) has a few things going for him: his genial optimism and the love of Doreen (Eva Mendes). However, because Wendell dances around telling her that he loves her, and his idea of work is illegal, he’s arrested, imprisoned, and Doreen walks away, semi-reluctantly, into the arms of another man (Will Ferrell). When he is paroled, Wendell dreams of a job in the “hotel industry” but ends up at a care home for the elderly where he uncovers the head nurse, Neal King (Owen Wilson), and his assistant McTeague (Eddie Griffin) are running a scam that is detrimental to the lives of the residents. With the help of three wily old residents (Seymour Cassell, Harry Dean Stanton and Kris Kristofferson) who respond to his good heart, Wendell sets about exposing King and win back Doreen.
The Wendell Baker Story is as lazy and laconic in its nature as the Wilson Brothers are in their own Texan sensibilities. It’s laid-back and told slightly off-kilter and the problem with this is that whilst it appears almost charming in parts, it goes to the point of being so laid-back it starts to become uninteresting in others. There’s a whistful, country musical score that proves infectious and there’s some brilliant zingers and one-liners scattered throughout. It’s a GOOD movie, don’t get me wrong. There’s not a single bad performance in the whole movie - Seymour Cassell and Harry Dean Stanton proving to be the stand-outs.
BUT, and this is the only analogy I can think of to describe the movie, you know how when Matthew McConaghey first came on the “scene”, people were impressed with his refreshingly laid-back, take-every-day-as-it-comes, zen-like cool? But then after a few years, audiences were like “Hey, Matthew, your shit is really starting to stink now! Step up to the plate and do something of interest man and stop fucking coasting on your good looks!” Remember that?
Well The Wendell Baker Story is a lot like that. You settle in, recognising that this is a charming, laid-back, cheery little story told simplistically and earnestly. But then it is so laid-back that it starts to almost annoy the crap out of you. The film starts to take an absolute age to go to the places where you know it is predestined to go from the end of the very first act.
I liked The Wendell Baker Story and I admired what the cast did with their roles in the movie, but it is essentially an inferior Bottle Rocket 2 in a lot of regards. For fans of Bottle Rocket, i.e. the people who LOVED that movie, then I recommend this and tell you that you will like it a little less than Wes Anderson’s debut movie but you will like it.
In fact, with this in rental stores at the same time as the really rather quite nice Matthew Perry indie, Numb (my review of which you can find here), I would whole-heartedly recommend a double-bill with that movie and this one. You won’t find yourself wanting to shout from the roof-tops or nothing about either film’s brilliance. But you will find yourself all emotionally warmed and suitably entertained, I assure you.
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