Movie Review: Wanderlust

My friend Jane has the extreme good fortune to look like a brunette Jennifer Aniston. Me? I get mistaken for either Steffi Graff, that sweaty tennis player from the 80s or the country singer LeeAnn Rimes.

Where is the fairness in the doppelganger universe? There is none. It’s just like the regular universe. This sentiment was brought to mind when I watched one of Jane’s, I mean Jennifer’s, movies recently. “Wanderlust” is the title.

It’s about a couple of Type A New Yorkers who bail on the big city after they discover life is not fair. They end up on a hippy commune in Georgia. Hilarity ensues. Not as much hilarity as the movie trailer would have you believe, but it’s passable. There are jokes about nudity and bongs and cars sinking in ponds.

I found it mildly engaging mostly because the movie also stars Justin Theroux, the actor who is Aniston’s real life beau. Whenever actor couples star in a movie together I spend my time watching to see if they break character and sneak smoldering looks at each other.

There was lots of this in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, “The Notebook” and “Gattaca”. There was virtually none of this in “Days Of Thunder”, “Far and Away” or “The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air”. Apparently, scientologist actors can smolder with the best of ‘em, just not if it involves a movie camera and a woman they’re allegedly involved with.

Truthfully, “Wanderlust” was a little boring for me. My fella, however, was on the floor laughing from a scene that concerned talking dirty. However, my guy is not a source to be trusted as he finds pretty much anything dirty funny, including foul slogans on t shirts.

In the wasteland that is summer television, I’d recommend watching “Wanderlust”. It’s an interesting diversion in the same way that me walking down the street in Nashville would be an interesting diversion for the locals, as they would undoubtedly wonder: why is LeeAnn Rimes canoodling with that guy in the dog t-shirt that says “Have you seen my wiener”?