In the beginning of "Wilson," Woody Harrelson's loser character laments the rise of people on social media and zoning out listening to earbuds, mourning the death of human interaction. Then, he shows us the reason why people listen to headphones in public: so they don't get in inane conversations with people like him. As with Ghost World (and Art School Confidential, less successfully) Daniel Clowes adapts his basically plot less comic into a feature length film, shoehorning a plot into what was just a character piece. Really, this is just the misadventures of a socially awkward, overly truthful, but extroverted person. But the pinned on plot concerns Wilson reuniting with his troubled ex, finding their bullied daughter who'd been adopted away, getting in trouble for contacting said daughter, and forming a new relationship with a yoga instructor. When his reunion with his daughter goes south, this previously lighthearted movie becomes too serious. The audience, who was all chuckles before, suddenly didn't know how to react to violent situations and dangerous people. I can't say the movie would have been successful without this situation. IT still concerns a man who it is hard to like. But adding dark elements to a comedy and then returning to the comedy does not seem to work. The seemingly upbeat ending, too, seems fastened on. The filmmakers wanted to end on a note of hope, so they stuck in a rather cliché sentiment that does not add much to either the story or the overall theme. I have enjoyed many movies about oddballs and social outcasts, but this one just does not manage to reconcile its story elements and its themes. I wasn't crazy about the source material either.
PS: Who came up with the advertising image of two men at a urinal? What are people making of it?
PS: Who came up with the advertising image of two men at a urinal? What are people making of it?