Wilson

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.

When titular anti-hero Wilson (Woody Harrelson) says suburbia is a "living death," he could also be talking about himself as a curmudgeon dissing everyone he sees while crying for the family life he's never had. That extreme tonal shift characterizes his bifurcated personality and the film itself.

In other words, this film is so deaf that it is almost impossible to see it as the comedy the producers would like us to experience. Although Harrelson brings his patented innocent bad-boy persona, he can't save the result from mediocre dialogue and inscrutable characterization.

As it all begins, Wilson's voice-over is larded with misanthropy spread over the landscape from a sweet dog lover (Sandy Olan) to any young person he meets, except his long lost daughter, Claire (Isabella Amara). The latter supposedly transforms his life after he seeks her out.

Fawning over his indifferent daughter emphasizes his lack of insight, despite his constant chatter about his disappointment with modern life, frequently spot on, if not unkind. His attempt to reunite with his estimable former wife, Pippi (Laura Dern), shows the other side of solid insight. By the end of the film, I felt I was battered from one side of the ring to the other with no real winner and a definite loser in Wilson.

Jack Nicholson did a remarkable job as a reforming curmudgeon in About Schmidt, as did a score of fine actors playing Scrooge. The film Wilson just doesn't fit because it lacks character focus. That Woody brings the requisite jaded innocence is a given; that the screenplay gives him nothing to hang the character on is a flaw in an otherwise interesting concept about the middle-aged pessimist turned optimist.

Because this film is adapted by the graphic novelist, Daniel Clowes, who created the protagonist, it's fair to say Clowes caught the cartoon-like irony of the comic book but lost the sense of character consistency so much a hallmark of a mature novel set to film. If you want bleak and dark with a light touch, the work of Todd Solondz would fit your needs. Clowes not so much.

'WILSON': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A comedy-drama, based on the 2010 graphic novel (of the same name) by Daniel Clowes (who also wrote the screenplay). The film was directed by Craig Johnson, who also helmed the 2014 indie hit 'THE SKELETON TWINS', and it stars Woody Harrelson (in the title role). The movie tells the story of a lonely, neurotic and extremely honest middle-aged man, named Wilson, who goes looking for his teenage daughter, after just discovering he had one. Laura Dern, Judy Greer and Isabella Amara also costar in the movie. It's received a limited indie theatrical release at the Box Office, and it's gotten mostly mediocre reviews from critics. I also found the film to be far from perfect, but it's also at least somewhat entertaining and insightful.

Wilson (Harrelson) is a lonely middle-aged man, who's lived alone most of his life. He's neurotic, and he's also uncomfortably open, and honest, with almost everyone he meets; which causes most people to distance themselves from him. Wilson was briefly married, to another mentally unstable, and now drug addicted, woman named Pippi (Dern). Pippi and Wilson conceived a child together, years earlier, but Wilson was told the baby was aborted. When he finds out the child was born, and she's now living with adoptive parents nearby, he feels the obsessive need to meet her (Amara).

I've never read the graphic novel that the film is based on, but I did enjoy the quirky 2001 cult classic 'GHOST WORLD'; which Clowes also wrote the screenplay to (and the comic book it was based on). I do really like the Wilson character though, and I can really relate to him in many ways (but definitely not in every way). I think Harrelson does an outstanding job portraying him too, and the movie is quite involving because of it. It's a little too unbalanced though, to highly recommend it; it's just way too dark at times, in comparison to it's otherwise upbeat nature.

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Not sure why this movie would even be considered a comedy, when in fact it had a very surreal flow to the story. I love movies like this because in the world in my head, I would love to be unfiltered like Woody was, with a heart of gold and speak my mind and, not have to worry about how other people my feel. Especially with my dickhead employer. For me this was a nice dramadey, and I don't agree with the other reviews about Harrelson not be able to save this film. In my opinion I loved his character and the rest of the cast. For a man to find out he has a child giving up to adoption and then trying to build a relationship with her, and for the child not to have a built up resentment towards their biological parents, is a very powerful message of relationship on the big screen. I have a on going visitation battle right now with my ex-wife from hell, and I swear, I'm fighting everyday to keep the relationship between me and my daughter alive. So to all you reviewers who didn't like Woody's role. I'm sorry this movie spoke volume to me. And to all you mothers and fathers out there that are not in your child's life they way you should be, Its time to really step up and man up....Great film

Before i decided to watch this movie i read some IMDb reviews. It was a mixed bunch and i wanted to see it because i believed in the positive ones. Now that i have seen it, i can say they were totally right.

Wilson is the story of an ordinary man who doesn't really want to take part in our modern society, mainly because of technology taking away social interactions. The movie does well in showing us the perverted lifestyle we developed because of technologies and capitalism. It made me think about these topics a lot and even affected me personally.I shed quiet a lot of tears, i was cought off guard by the movie and that is something i do not experience a lot.

I would not describe this movie as a pure comedy, for me it is like 60% Drama and 40% comedy. In my opinion Wilson deserves a way higher rating.