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Health & Fitness

MOVIE REVIEW: Wanderlust — Don't Worry, Money Really Isn't That Important

Feel condescended to yet?

Ah, another film where another harried and overextended New York couple flees the city and learns the error of their ways, including how money shouldn't matter so much. This is one of the most annoying formulas in all creation, but I doubt that it will ever get old any time soon: It's the closest mainstream Hollywood will ever get to relating to the rest of us.

The movie begins as we see the New York couple, Linda (Jennifer Anison) and George (Paul Rudd) overextending themselves to buy a micro-loft (studio) apartment. When George gets fired and Linda's latest venture fails, they find themselves with few options, so they head to Atlanta to take a job with George's brother, Rick. On the way, they discover a bed and breakfast that turns out to be a hippie commune. George quickly takes to the place, and their charismatic leader Seth (Justin Theroux) — Linda less so.

They stay for a night and depart to Rick's majestic house and unhappy family (of course). He is a magnificently unsavory human being whose behavior soon drives Linda and George back to the commune. There, the two quickly switch places: George becomes uneasy by the lack of boundaries (there are no doors and he can't even go to the bathroom in peace), his complete unsuitability for nonoffice work, and Seth's interest in his wife, who basks in the lack of social norms.

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Cliches and stereotypes abound. Linda becomes more enamored of the place after Seth shows off his guitar skills, and the hippies talk in a circle and ingest powerful hallucinogens. (The only thing that would be more of a cliché is a drum circle) There's even a subplot that deals with the commune being threatened by men in suits who seek to build a casino on the land.

The film clearly basks in its R rating, with countless examples of graphic nudity. However, like other fare such as Hall Pass and No Strings Attached, its graphic nature and questions about monogamy are merely used to further the same old idea that only the traditional kind of relationship is acceptable.

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The only saving grace in this film is the film's talented cast (which includes Alan Alda as the aging commune founder) and their ease in handling the script's solid one-liners. But mostly I couldn't feel more condescended to. My suggestion is to watch a episode or two of Entourage or Sex in the City rather than this garbage. At least those shows strive to be more honest about relationships, as well as the characters' desire for money and the role it plays in bettering their lives.

Reviewer Rating: D-

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