Wilson (2017)

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The film opens with Wood Harelson (Wilson) walking his dog lamenting how disappointed in life and people he is. As this tale unfolds, you learn he and Laura Dern (Pippi) had once been a couple. Pippi left him when she found out she was pregnant saying she was going to get an abortion and go to LA. Fast forward 17 years, Wilson lives a marginal, "tin hat" life laced with forcing himself upon strangers in a desperate attempt for companionship. When his estranged father dies and his only friend announces he is moving out of state, he is struct with the thought there is no one left he can share common memories with. He then begins to wonder who's still left in his old neighborhood and wonders whatever happend to Pippi leading him on a path of disfunctional family twists and turns.Both Harelson and Dern manage to play believable characters, Wilson as a nuerotic and Pippi just trying to get through the day without flipping out. What is a bit distracting is all the F-bombs, but maybe it was to depict the lack of understanding and communication among them. Not for young viewers due to language and adult themes, but older teens might benefit from seeing a film that shows life rarely turns out like you think it will.

Miscast or something. I felt awkward watching it. Neither of the leads seemed even vaguely realistic nor did the plot. It was all trying too hard. I hated everything about it right down to Harrelson saying the name Pippi.

I am not familiar with the graphic novel that this comes from, but found it odd that a somewhat counter-culture guy was always wearing khakis and a tucked-in collared shirt.The big takeaway was I felt Woody Harrelson used this as some sort of self-indulgant vehicle and there was no direction he was listening to. Thus, a good chunk fell flat as he tried just a bit too hard and a bit too loud to be funny. Same with Laura Dern.There was also not a focus to much of it. In the end, the character throught he had "grown up" while in prison but I really didn't see him as such to begin with. There were suggestions what the character was, but nothing clearly defined. But I really didn't think he was childish. More like bitter and set in his ways, never recovering from past failures. There was a redundancy to his being so smug, but that really didn't bother me.The character was on a search but a vague search. Okay, his father died. Which led him to his former friend. Then to his former wife, then to his surprise 17 year-old daughter. The prison stuff was amusing as it forced a change on the character. There were consequences to running his mouth. I got that.Strangely I didn't really think about Laura Dern and the daughter 'til the visiting room scene when Dern showed up. Then a huge amount of backstory delivered verbally that it was 3 years later and that the daughter turned on him in the courtroom. I thought it was a few months, but 3 years? Huh? You could not spend 15 seconds of screen time with her behind the witness box in the courtroom doing such? Glaring sloppiness. Then it felt like it just treaded water 'til the end. You will not be lacking if you missed it.

Its another trite, half-baked, poorly conceived/written film from the Hollywood hopper. The 2010s will surely go down as the lowest point in cinematic history. A time when PC trumped art, so we're fed this sort of garbage.Here, we're given Wilson, an earnest, overly-honest, kind hearted ne'er-do-well who is misunderstood in today's cruel world. Perhaps, he's of a different time? Its trite to the gills, ala Garp, Gump, etc. The problem is that the character as portrayed, is simply someone that I could care less about and would go out of my way to avoid. He's the guy that comes up to you in public and starts hassling you for no reason, or the guy that approaches you at the urinal in the men's room. Or the guy that seeks out his adopted child that he had with a crack whore 17 years ago.There are damn good reasons why this behavior is considered undesirable. There are social barriers and norms that exist for all of our protection.Woody Harrelson is miscast here, although I'm not sure there's an actor alive that could make this palatable. Laura Dern, a fine actor, is wasted. The rest of the cast is forgettable.To put the cherry on top of this excrement, Wilson becomes a hipster and lives happily ever after.Are there misunderstood gems like Wilson out in the world? If so, they belong in prison.