Post by LukesGirl on Apr 30, 2004 21:17:03 GMT -5
We've got some hog-tying and branding to do ladies!! Who's with me? Some idiot posted a "review" of the Wendell Baker Story on imdb.com's message board. He supposedly was at the premiere. I didn't know they had a premiere already. How could they when there is no release date set?? Anyway, this guy needs a thorough thrashing. What do you all think?
Just came back from the premiere....MY REVIEW
by - CDDZEC 1 day ago (Wed Apr 28 22:40:25) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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The Wendell Baker Story starts off extremely slow, and goes downhill from there. I realized Luke Wilson had written and directed the feature, so I anticipated a lot, since The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my all-time favorites. Instead, what I saw was a horrible attempt at a comedy. All I can say is that Wilson can't write without Anderson standing beside him.
The performance by Luke Wilson was extremely weak. I am extremely fond of him in most of his films, but I actually found it hard to watch him this time. He had his moments, but didn't achieve anything special through the terrible character of Baker. Furthermore, Eva Mendes was a poor addition to the cast. She has the looks, and showed a ton of potential in Training Day and some in Stuck on You, but she is definitely bad in The Wendell Baker Story. Moreover, Owen Wilson didn't annoy me for once, thanks to the always amusing, Eddie Griffin. However, the shining star of the film, who is only in about two scenes, with a total screen time of about three minutes, is Will Ferrel. He is absolutely hilarious. For once, he doesn't exaggerate his role and takes it on more of a subtle level, until he reaches a boiling point in a certain scene. Also, the only performances that had a lot of screen time and I absolutely loved were from the elders of the film, including the hilarious Seymour Cassel and the lovable Harry Dean Stanton.
The screenplay is the main problem of this film, and obviously, the most important aspect of it. It is filled with loopholes and some weak dialogue. Furthermore, the character development is simply heart wrenching. Wendell goes from being a stupefying convict, to a passionate athlete, which leads him to become a moron, progressing him to later regret his mistake of being a moron, leading him to try and rectify himself, which further develops him to shape into a loving human being who cares for humanity, then becoming extremely intelligent, then going all the way back to being a convict in order to save his relationship that he lost somewhere along the way. It is so poorly written that even that summary of his development won't do it justice. Additionally, almost every single character in the film is weakly developed. For example, Eva Mendes, playing Wendell's girlfriend, is so unbelievable that she is actually hard to watch. Then, there is the god-awful character of Kris Kristofferson. He is only in the film for about three minutes total, akin to Ferrel, and doesn't even remotely develop. We find out absolutely nothing about this man that is eventually becomes the main influence for Baker's final actions. That basically sums up the horrifying results of a script written by Wilson without a genius atop his shoulders. Also, the plot develops in ways that are unbelievably stupid. Nothing seems to connect clearly, which I can also blame on the diluted editing.
Wilson not only wrote a weak screenplay, he basically directed the film with sheer stupidity. I can't point out specifics since I don't want to give away the entire plot, but I can see no future for Wilson as a director. For starters, he can't direct actors, reminding me of George Lucas, but unlike Lucas, he offers nothing to save the horrific results of the performances. There are also various sequential choices he made that make the film drag at times, causing instability.
Essentially, The Wendell Baker Story is the horrific result of a great screenwriter/actor trying to go on his own. Unlike what I expected, the film was a hit-and-miss comedy with a few scenes that had me, and the rest of the audience, laughing. Don't even think about wasting your money to see this in the theaters. I suggest to those who are anticipating this film to wait for it to hit the shelves, and then see a poor attempt at filmmaking. Technically speaking, I think Wes Anderson should have been involved in this to have somehow provided Wilson with a professional hand at both directing and writing.
My Rating: 4/10 or *1/2 (out of ****)
Just came back from the premiere....MY REVIEW
by - CDDZEC 1 day ago (Wed Apr 28 22:40:25) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Wendell Baker Story starts off extremely slow, and goes downhill from there. I realized Luke Wilson had written and directed the feature, so I anticipated a lot, since The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my all-time favorites. Instead, what I saw was a horrible attempt at a comedy. All I can say is that Wilson can't write without Anderson standing beside him.
The performance by Luke Wilson was extremely weak. I am extremely fond of him in most of his films, but I actually found it hard to watch him this time. He had his moments, but didn't achieve anything special through the terrible character of Baker. Furthermore, Eva Mendes was a poor addition to the cast. She has the looks, and showed a ton of potential in Training Day and some in Stuck on You, but she is definitely bad in The Wendell Baker Story. Moreover, Owen Wilson didn't annoy me for once, thanks to the always amusing, Eddie Griffin. However, the shining star of the film, who is only in about two scenes, with a total screen time of about three minutes, is Will Ferrel. He is absolutely hilarious. For once, he doesn't exaggerate his role and takes it on more of a subtle level, until he reaches a boiling point in a certain scene. Also, the only performances that had a lot of screen time and I absolutely loved were from the elders of the film, including the hilarious Seymour Cassel and the lovable Harry Dean Stanton.
The screenplay is the main problem of this film, and obviously, the most important aspect of it. It is filled with loopholes and some weak dialogue. Furthermore, the character development is simply heart wrenching. Wendell goes from being a stupefying convict, to a passionate athlete, which leads him to become a moron, progressing him to later regret his mistake of being a moron, leading him to try and rectify himself, which further develops him to shape into a loving human being who cares for humanity, then becoming extremely intelligent, then going all the way back to being a convict in order to save his relationship that he lost somewhere along the way. It is so poorly written that even that summary of his development won't do it justice. Additionally, almost every single character in the film is weakly developed. For example, Eva Mendes, playing Wendell's girlfriend, is so unbelievable that she is actually hard to watch. Then, there is the god-awful character of Kris Kristofferson. He is only in the film for about three minutes total, akin to Ferrel, and doesn't even remotely develop. We find out absolutely nothing about this man that is eventually becomes the main influence for Baker's final actions. That basically sums up the horrifying results of a script written by Wilson without a genius atop his shoulders. Also, the plot develops in ways that are unbelievably stupid. Nothing seems to connect clearly, which I can also blame on the diluted editing.
Wilson not only wrote a weak screenplay, he basically directed the film with sheer stupidity. I can't point out specifics since I don't want to give away the entire plot, but I can see no future for Wilson as a director. For starters, he can't direct actors, reminding me of George Lucas, but unlike Lucas, he offers nothing to save the horrific results of the performances. There are also various sequential choices he made that make the film drag at times, causing instability.
Essentially, The Wendell Baker Story is the horrific result of a great screenwriter/actor trying to go on his own. Unlike what I expected, the film was a hit-and-miss comedy with a few scenes that had me, and the rest of the audience, laughing. Don't even think about wasting your money to see this in the theaters. I suggest to those who are anticipating this film to wait for it to hit the shelves, and then see a poor attempt at filmmaking. Technically speaking, I think Wes Anderson should have been involved in this to have somehow provided Wilson with a professional hand at both directing and writing.
My Rating: 4/10 or *1/2 (out of ****)