“Wilson” (Comedy: 1 hour, 36 minutes)

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern and Isabella Amara

Director: Craig Johnson

Rated: R (Strong profanity, violence and sexuality)

 

Movie Review: Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel serves as the basis for this screenplay written by Clowes and starring Woody Harrelson as the title character.

“Wilson” is a comedy, a role suited for the high-energy actor Harrelson. Harrelson rants and raves, cursing often. The problem is many others do similarly. “Wilson” has its moments, which some inspire laughs and others are eccentric material.

Harrelson plays Wilson, a disturbed, lonely man struggling with the death of his father. Wilson’s only long-term companion is his beloved dog, Pepper. His loneliness leads him back to his estranged wife Pippi (Dern).

The two reconnect and Wilson finds out that Pippi did not abort their baby 17 years earlier. This gives Wilson a sense of happiness. He and Pippi venture to find their teenage daughter, Claire (Amara), whom Wilson has never met and Pippi has not seen since their daughter was a newborn. Wilson hopes to connect with Claire, his close relative.

Wilson is a misanthrope. He hates humanity. He thinks people do not communicate anymore, other than via electronic devices that he dreads.

Wilson’s over-friendliness goes overboard, as he constantly sits or stands beside people and forces them into conversations, even at urinals. The conversations are weird. Wilson communicates with people but in cynical tones. He also curses them occasionally. Wilson does not realize he is the problem.

Daniel Clowes exhibits Wilson as a neurotic middle-aged man. This role is a classic for Harrelson, who plays these types of personas well. Harrelson’s style is perfect for Wilson, a type of Jack Nicholson role of yesteryear.

Dern and Amara play members of Wilson’s dysfunctional family. They are similar to him. They are perverted in their own twisted manner. Adversely, they mimic Harrelson’s portrayal of Wilson in numerous ways periodically.

Many of the characters are outrageous with profanity-laced lines attached. Their cursing about the state of humanity becomes repetitive. Their lives are a mess, mainly of their own doing. Those character flaws create laughs, but they also make all the characters less compelling and too similar to each other, distracting audiences from the inspiration that is Wilson.

Grade: C (Harrelson is engaging as the titular character, but others around him appear as mere imitators.)

* Playing in larger Cities