Directed by Brit McAdams

Starring – Owen Wilson, Ciara Renee, Stephen Root

The Plot – Owen Wilson portrays Carl Nargle, Vermont’s #1 public television painter who is convinced he has it all: a signature perm, custom van, and fans hanging on his every stroke… until a younger, better artist steals everything (and everyone) Carl loves, leading him to examine the aspects of his life that could always prescribe personal growth.

Rated PG-13 for sexual/suggestive material, drug use and smoking

Paint – Official Trailer – Feat. Owen Wilson | HD | IFC Films – YouTube

POSITIVES

On the surface level, “Paint” could easily be mistaken for a Bob Ross biopic, with Owen Wilson donning an amplified curly wig and pallet of paints at his character’s disposal. However, the ironies begin and end with the opening shot, where Wilson’s Carl Nargle is brought to life with the actor’s signature room-chilled personality at the helm of an easy-going fictionalized character, and one that feels perfectly cast with its lead, who knows how to bring out the quirks and annoyances of the character with stern believability. Wilson supplants his best performance in a decade by essentially portraying himself, but even as such there’s an air of constant regret and underlining tenderness to Carl that constantly emphasizes something deeper ticking beneath the many mountainside canvases and decorated splashes of color that adorn his many televised projects, with Owen’s familiarized routine inspiring an infectious charm and appeal to the character, regardless of the moral instability that constantly plague his character design. Aside from Wilson’s portrayal, the film is also blessed with a 70’s sizzle of television production values, with disjointed cuts in editing and subtly saturated imagery seamlessly channeling a timely essence, despite its story suprisingly taking shape in current day. Consider it a “Brady Bunch Movie” type of gimmick, where 70’s characters persist in a 90’s world, except in Carl’s case the visuals are conveyed to further illustrate the character’s disconnect with his restless audience, and one that with the further benefits of Bob Denver on the soundtrack, or vintage set decorations, feels like it immerses us wholly in the depths of the character’s spellbinding tranquility. As for the script, it’s kind of plagued by problematic storytelling, however the one aspect I did appreciate is ironically the one thing I called out “Dungeons and Dragons” for, in an overabundance of flashback storytelling to the proceedings. Why it works more here is because while it’s teaching us more about the characters we’re immediately interacting with from the word go, it’s also further painting shifts and complexity in the depths of its romantic conflict at the center of the narrative, solidifying that Carl, while not the most admirable of protagonists, isn’t alone on the self-sabotaging misery he often prescribes himself, with a second half turn taking this from a power struggle between two tortured artists, to a blossoming love story with all of the humility for a table for two.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, “Paint” just isn’t a very effectively funny experience, especially since the extent of its 91 minute run time lends itself to pushing one-note gags well beyond their respective shelf life. To be fair, the film does get off to a solid start in garnering a few clever ironies during the opening act that maintained consistency in the subtlties of the actors’ back-handed deliveries, but quickly enough its routine runs dry in the perils of repetition, and we’re left with a lukewarm realized kind of idea that would lend itself much better to a Funny or Die ten minute skit than a feature length story. By the inferior second half, the punchlines become almost detectable, and the energy of the characters, while never exceeding the initial cruise control that remains prominent throughout some pretty magnifying circumstances, undersells the extent of the material, leading to stacked pockets of plodded pacing that not only directly undercut the personality of the movie, but also stack on what feels like an additional half hour to a third act climax that could’ve easily resolved itself inside any of the four endings that smother the script’s resolution. As for the non-comedic instances, the surrounding storytelling grows stale fast, especially the direction of the narrative, with shallow characterization, familiar beats, and abrupt decisions undercutting the minimalized tension garnered in a few blossoming conflicts for Carl. One such instance involving a rival painter resolves itself for what seems like no other reason but the script requires it to, with a distance for the journey traveled seemingly feeling like the same spot we once turned the ignition. Beyond the script, however, there’s an equal cause for concern in a decorated and frustratingly wasted ensemble that have very little to do except serve as punching bags to Wilson’s one man showcase. Stephen Root and Wendi McLendon-Covey are capable enough of carrying their own respective films, but are deduced here to glorified cameos free of a single impactful line of comedic dialogue between them, but SNL’s Denny Dillon is most tragic while serving as a telethon host and virtual therapist between Nargle and his on-screen nemesis, looking as clueless as we were why a comedian would even be summoned for something so thankless. Finally and perhaps most problematic for my own experience, the character evolution of Carl feels every bit unearned as it does inconsequential to the journey of his narrative. When we begin alongside his time as a popular TV show host, he’s a selfish womanizer, and when the movie ends, he’s suddenly this completely different person who was taught humility as a result of losing the one thing he cared most about. A third act haircut is meant to symbolize this transformation, but it, like a woman’s longing for him, only further contorts the clarity in everything we’ve been shown, leaving us forced to just kind of accept a tranformation without downright interpreting it, with Carl never having to answer for many selfish acts that hurt more than just the woman he loves.

OVERALL
“Paint” would be better suited as a Bob Ross biopic or Funny or Die segment, as it wastes away a charmingly smooth performance by Wilson as a result of its very by the numbers approach on the way to a dryly dull narrative. With acrylic humor, abstract characterization, and gouache storytelling behind every stroke, the film is all color and no clarity, leaving it tougher to observe the closer you are to it.

My Grade: 5/10 or D