Wanderlust

Recently "Wanderlust" was screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Sounded good in the Festival Program. The LA Times and The New York Times had had great things to say about it. The film makers ("Damaged Californians") who introduced the movie seemed like nice guys. I was all set to enjoy an "off-beat mix of romantic comedy, family drama, surrealism, folklore etc". Well, yeah, I lasted 35 minutes- a new minimum record for me. Problem is that the movie is amateurish beyond belief. It looks like the budget was about $40,000 to $50,000 tops. Which wouldn't have been so bad if the film makers weren't so obviously trying for a big movie look. It would have been better for them to have worked within their limitations. What kind of film can we make if we can't afford to go on location? (The island off the coast of Chile in the movie looks like some-one's beach house and back yard). What kind of film should we make if we can't afford a good scriptwriter, professional actors and an editor and a director?

Let this film be a lesson to all you wannabees. Look at the films being made in Iran for example- using authentic locations and brilliant scripts which don't make too many demands on non-professional actors.

No point telling you all too much about the film seeing as how I walked out not long after the opening credit sequence (which, actually, is where all the creativity and budget went).

But for those who've seen the movie, Aunt Clara's slide show of her mobile home holiday, which features somewhat throughout the film deserved it's few (intentional) laughs.

I didn't find this film as bad as the previous reviewer, but I too felt a little let down. Very much the sort of thing you'd expect to see at a film festival being shown in the hopes that a distributor would pick it up. Seems from their IMDb entries that few of the cast have gone on to do much else after this, other than perhaps Sabrina Lloyd, who I felt could've been given a slightly bigger part.

The central premise was good enough, and a few of the characterisations, but I couldn't get excited enough about the ending. Having read the sleeve on the DVD it told me that there would be an unexpected ending, yet I found the ending actually petered out a bit into nothingness.