Director: Brit McAdams
Writer: Brit McAdams
Stars: Owen Wilson, Michaela Watkins, Stephen Root
Synopsis: Carl Nargle, Vermont’s #1 public television painter, 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.
Comedies, like dramas, can come in many different varieties. The dramedy which plays both sides, the sex comedy where everybody wants some, and the offbeat, quirky affairs that find their loving, devoted niche. Paint wants to be that offbeat comedy. It wants that underdog status, but it’s just kind of a chuckler. It’s the kind of comedy where rather than laugh out loud you chuckle or your brain says, “Oh, that’s funny.”
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t make for an interesting movie. Paint’s a bit of a shrug. A, “So that’s what you want to do with your not Bob Ross, but obviously Bob Ross adjacent, comedy?” kind of movie. It feels stale the first time Owen Wilson talks about bushes and trees in his whispering lilt. So much of that character exists in our minds already that it was a disappointment that Carl Nargle is just another uninspired imitation.
The filmmakers didn’t even play up the idea of the man out of time aspect of it. In fact, until one character jarringly refers to The Real Housewives and another calls an Uber, it’s not at all clear when this is supposed to be set. If their timeline matches, then the 22 years earlier flashback that occurs is roughly 2000 not the more obvious references to the late 1970s and early 1980s which would have made more sense as that’s when shows like Paint with Carl Nargle would have been on. Much more could have been mined from a man who doesn’t accept the changing of the times with forty years of history behind him.
There is a lot of comedy like this left on the table. The cringiness never boils over, the pratfalls are pitiful, and many quirks are never explained even with a satisfying nonsensical explanation. Though, one sequence that is genuinely funny is when Carl wants to avoid some bad press. He drives his van to every house with a newspaper and steals the paper so no one can read the article that mentions him negatively. The genius comes from editor Sofi Marshall’s work as she does several quick cuts to the sequence of Carl speeding forward by inches, hitting the brakes, putting in park, jumping out for the paper, throwing it in and then jumping back in to start it again. It’s a ridiculous sequence that finally does more than make you chuckle.
However, the film as a whole is just half baked. It’s trying to mine depths that aren’t present and it has a main character that has no likable qualities. Carl would have been a great anti-hero. He could have been a spectacular cad. He could have kicked puppies, pushed an old lady down, popped a kid’s balloon, but he didn’t. He didn’t really do anything, fight for anything, or stand for anything. His downfall isn’t so much of a downfall as leaving one room for another slightly less comfortable room. Even his grand ambitions are just pitiful.
The whole film has this pity party feel to it that’s playing to an audience of one. Who can say who that one really is, but I hope they like their movie. It’s probably best to just skip this one all together. There are quirky comedies out there that actually care about being funny and interesting at the same time.
Grade: D
