Near the Texas-Mexico border, Wendell Baker has a few things going for him: his genial nature and optimism and the love of Doreen. His troubles? He dances around telling her that he loves her, and his idea of work is illegal. He's arrested, imprisoned, and she puts him behind her when she realizes that even prison is just a good excuse for him to play football with the guys. When he is paroled, it's to a job in the “hotel industry” at a board and care home for seniors, where the head nurse is running a scam. Three of the residents respond to Wendell's good heart. Can they expose the scam and help Wendell win back Doreen?
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Romance
Runtime: 99 minutes
Rating: 5.6/10 (3,172 votes)
Release Date: 11 March 2005
Country: USA, Germany
Languages: English
Company: Möbius Entertainment
Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some crude and sexual humor and language.
Director(s): Andrew Wilson, Luke Wilson
Producer(s):
Ray Angelic – executive producer
David Bergstein – executive producer
David L. Bushell – producer (as David Bushell)
Oliver Hengst – executive producer
Mark Johnson – producer
Wolfgang Schamburg – associate producer
Ernst-August Schnieder – executive producer
Tracee Stanley – executive producer (as Tracee Stanley-Newell)
Ron Tutor – executive producer
Luke Wilson – producer
Writer(s):
Luke Wilson – writer
Cast:
Luke Wilson – Wendell Baker
Eva Mendes – Doreen
Jacob Vargas – Reyes Morales
Owen Wilson – Neil King
Harry Dean Stanton – Skip Summers
Kris Kristofferson – L.R. Nasher
Seymour Cassel – Boyd Fullbright
Eddie Griffin – McTeague
Will Ferrell – Dave
Angela Alvarado – Irma (as Angela Alvarado Rosa)
Music: Aaron Zigman
Tagline: Why not call him a hero?
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THE WENDELL BAKER STORY (2007) *** ½ Luke Wilson, Eva Mendes, SeymourCassel, Harry Dean Stanton, Owen Wilson, Eddie Griffin, KrisKristofferson, Jacob Vargas, Angela Alvarado, Azura Skye, HeatherKafka, Will Ferrell. (Dirs: Andrew & Luke Wilson)
Wilson Brothers' Shine in Odd-ball Shaggy Dog Tale
Luke Wilson proves to be a triple threat as star, co-writer &co-director of this Wilson siblings affair of the heart with fellowbros Andrew as co-scripter & helmsman and Owen co- starring in thisbreezy, charming and off-beat goofy shaggy dog tale about the titularanti- hero (played with low-key affable trademark cool and charm tospare by brother Luke), a sardonic, laconic self-proclaimedentrepreneur cum con man whose latest scheme to win over hislong-suffering gorgeous girlfriend Doreen (luscious Mendes) involveshis partner- in-crime Reyes (Vargas) in an identification card schemefilching unsuspecting illegal Mexicans that ultimately gets his sorryass incarcerated.
While on the inside the unflappable Baker acclimates rather well to thepoint of blowing off Doreen's visits for a con scrimmage game offootball prompting her to return all his jailhouse missives. Gettingthe drift Baker reads Conrad Hilton's book on business and he has arevelation of going square and fair once and for all by dreaming ofrunning his own hotel some day.
After several attempts of gaining parole Baker finally gets out andwinds up an orderly in a sunny retirement run by the unscrupulous NeilKing (bro Owen having a field day as a vile weasel), who has beenrunning a racket with his toady McTeague (comic Griffin) by stealingall the pension/Social Security checks from their clientele and makingthe old folks' lives truly miserable. Wendell eventually gets wind ofthe nefarious criminal activities at hand and determined to not beframed for King's plans of just that, ingratiates himself with a coupleof good-natured codgers Boyd and Skip (veteran great character actorsCassel and Stanton, stealing the movie in each scene they inhabit), whoare equally hoping for payback for the bastard King and oily McTeague.Inspired Wendell also tries to regain the respect and love of Doreenwho has hooked up with the local grocery store manager Dave Bix (ahilarious Ferrell) who is hell bent on having Baker out of her lifeonce and for all.
Desperately Baker goes to his new elderly amigos who are won over withhis plight and they find a purposed in their lives : get even with Kingand get Baker back with Doreen.
The Wilson lads should be beaming with pride in this nifty, nuttysleeper indie they've been pedaling for a few years now and finally goton the big screen. Luke has crafted a fun loving character with a heartof gold : Hunter S. Thompson meets Andy Griffith is the best way to sumup the wily yet well-meaning Wendell Baker, a good ol' boy who isn'taware of the damage he has inflicted until it's too late but does hisdamndest to make things right not unlike fellow fictional redneck EarlHickey of TV's "MY NAME IS EARL".
The game cast does a splendid job and the tone of the film has the feelof another pair of sibling auteurs : the Coen Brothers with their earfor dialogue amidst chicanery and miscreant mischief. Also on hand iscrusty Kristofferson as a fellow dweller who has a few secrets up hissleeve.
I liked the overall feeling of the entire film with its cheekyprotagonist and the odd-balls he meets along in his life's journey andI trust any viewer will do just that: enjoy.
In the first reel of "The Wendell Baker Story" there are many exteriorand interior shots of what I reckon to be a '54 Spartan Royal Mansion.The movie was set and shot in and around Austin Texas so the vintagemobile home sports Texas plates. It was nice to see the old bird undertow (by a mid-80s El Camino, I think) though it was distressing to seethe leading man swing a golf club inside the coach (what I could see ofthe interior past a heavy, goofy set decoration, was definitelyunrestored and kinda rough) and play for laughs the joke of his 9 ironcrunching into and getting stuck in a birch wood ceiling panel. Eventhough the vintage coach in this movie wasn't a beautifully restoredspecimen (of which there are many available) or a vintage coachpreserved in original condition, still it was thrilling to see amid-fifties Spartan featured in the movie as a key set piece. Whatcaused me to groan out loud in the theater was the leading man, withthe exquisite curves of his Spartan Aircraft Company trailer fleshingout the near background,refer to it as an Airstream.
To the production designer's (or art director's) credit, the movie wasan ode to vintage aluminum, for also featured in this movie was abeautiful polished vintage twin beech aircraft, the progenitor of theairframe construction technique — aluminum skin riveted to aluminumstuds –used by Spartan Aircraft Co. to such great effect for more thanforty years. And continuing the aluminum theme, in a much shorterappearance, a shiny Haliburton valise was used as a key prop.
I don't know if this light and entertaining movie about a quirkycharacter is still in release in your neighborhood, but I'd be aterrific DVD rental. Even if you are not a vintage trailer fan, take alook at this well made little picture.
Spartanaciously, Michael Katz
I'm supposed to like "The Wendell Baker Story". From having lived inthe Austin area for the last 27 years and in Austin proper for the last11, I recognized most of the locales in the film. Plus, I went to theUniversity of Texas at the same time the Wilson brothers did (alongwith Matthew McConaughey & Renee Zellweger). I will freely admit that Ilike brother Owen's screenplays directed by Wes Anderson ("BottleRocket", "Rushmore", "The Royal Tennenbaums"). And Luke Wilson–as bothwriter and director–attempts to emulate the Owen/Wes style in thismovie. Unfortunately, his skills as a writer don't match his brother's,and as a director he seems grossly incompetent. And as lead actor,he–as always–gets by on his good looks and Texas accent rather thanany discernible talent.
The story is about Wendell Baker (Luke Wilson), a huckster who getsarrested for forging fake id's for illegal aliens. After he gets out ofjail, he finds that his girlfriend Doreen (Eva Mendes) has dumped himand most of his friends want nothing more to do with him. While Wendellwas in jail, he studied the hotel business, and that lands him a job ina retirement home run by the evil Neil King (Owen Wilson) and hishenchman McTeague (Eddie Griffin). It's not much of a spoiler to saythat Wendell saves the day, wins back Doreen and makes a few quirkyfriends along the way. But I won't give any details as to how this isaccomplished.
Like "Rushmore", this is very much a story about a misfit who doesn'tget that he's a misfit. Also, like Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, thefilm is peppered with really great–if somewhat obscure–songs from abygone era. But whereas Owen and Wes opt for British pop music from the1960's, Luke prefers Texas Outlaw country music from the 1970's. Heeven casts Kris Kristofferson in a key role and Billy Joe Shaver in asmall role. Between the two of them, they wrote nearly half the countryhits between 1969 and 1980.
Also unlike Owen Wilson, whose characters are funny, quirky and sad,Wilson's characters are merely quirky. And unlike Wes Anderson, Lukedoesn't know how to properly set up a shot or light an indoor set. Mostof the indoor scenes are dramatically under-lit. Often, the sun comingthrough a window will render a character's arm or stomach visible, butthe head will be shrouded in darkness. This would work well if thiswere a film noir, but given that this is supposed to be a feel-goodcomedy, I have to assume this was not intentional. It is a real problemin the scenes that Owen and Luke have together, since the only physicaldifference between the two is their hair color.
I also need to say that the acting–except for the notable exception ofWill Ferrell making the most of a small part–is mediocre at best. LukeWilson has always been one of the blandest actors in Hollywood. Owen isa talented actor, but not here. Eddie Griffin is truly awful. AlthoughEva Mendes is pretty to look at, she's not much of an actress. And it'sreally saying something when I mention that Luke can't wring a goodperformance out of Harry Dean Stanton or Seymour Cassel.
There are things that I liked about this movie. I have alreadymentioned the soundtrack and Will Ferrell's performance. I also giveWilson props for filming in North Central Austin (where I once livedand still frequent) instead of the usual haunts of UT, downtown andSouth Austin (seen in "Slacker", "The Life of David Gale" and"Grindhouse") where I rarely have any reason for going.
Overall, I would have to say this movie was done by an enthusiastic buttalentless amateur trying too hard to step out of his more-talentedbrother's shadow. But for Will Ferrell, I would have given this 5 outof 10. But Ferrell is so good, I will give it an extra star.
OK now I have always liked Luke and Owen Wilson as well as many otherstars in this film such as Eddie Griffin, Eva Mendes, KrisKristofferson, and Will Ferrell but for some reason this movie wasn'tfunny at all. It was more dramatic and from the looks of the trailer, Iwas expecting a comedy with several laughs since it starred Luke andOwen Wilson, but I only laughed like twice the whole movie and I wasexpecting to laugh way more. It kind of tells the life of WendellBaker, but it really fails to make anything about his life funny likethey should have. Overall I give this a 4 out of 10 because I wasexpecting a comedy, not a drama. I wouldn't recommend this to comedyfans, but if you are looking for something different and you are a LukeWilson fan then you may like this, but i'm not sure because I am a LukeWilson fan and I didn't even like this one.
Most people know Owen Wilson. Many people know Luke Wilson. Few peopleare probably familiar with Andrew Wilson. He's the hand with the BB init in The Royal Tenenbaums. He pops up from time to time in Andersonmovies and other movies with the Wilsons in them. But maybe he's a bitmore camera shy and doesn't want to be an image on the screen, so forthe most part he hasn't followed the same path as his brothers. Now,apparently, he's directing. Cool! This is probably the hardest type ofmovie to review. Simply stated, there's absolutely nothing wrong withit, but it isn't very good.
The imagery is nice. The story is pleasant, but predictable. The humorI get, but it's kind of slow and isn't really memorable. Characterdevelopment feels added as an after-thought, but at least it's there.It honestly feels like O Brother Where Art Thou? meets My Name is Earlwithout the skill of the former or the humor of the latter. It's a verynon-specific movie, which is why I feel very non-specific about it.
I'd state that as an entertainment medium, it's worth a rental, butthat it probably won't be on shelves for long. In the meantime, Lukeand Andrew Wilson show enough skill in directing that perhaps either orboth of them can go on to make some much more interesting movies in thefuture. For now, though, I wouldn't really recommend this movie toanyone in particular as it doesn't really feel like it has muchpersonality.
–PolarisDiB