 | |
List Price: $27.98 | | Label: VELOCITY / THINKFILM
Salesrank: 27612
Released: October 30, 2007 |
| Our Price: $4.75 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Wendell Baker (Luke Wilson) is a dreamer and schemer whose latest scam lands him in jail, alienating him from his longtime girlfriend (Eva Mendes). Eternally optimistic, Wendell makes the most of his time behind bars and vows to turn his life around. Upon release, he gets a job at a retirement hotel, where he befriends some of the elderly residents. Wendell's new friends advise him on how to win back his girlfriend, while he helps them battle the hotel's evil head nurse Neil King (Owen Wilson) and his right-hand man McTeague (Eddie Griffin).
The Wendell Baker Story Reviews:
fantastic movie 
2009-10-07 - Anything movie with both Owen and Luke Wilson is a must have. I found this movie on here after never hearing about it before and it is great. just a great commedy with a finish that can't help but to leave everyone with a happy face.
Smug and dull. 
2009-07-13 - How does a movie this bad get made? It just makes everyone in it look bad. Poor Eva really comes across as talentless. I had to stop watching after it went nowhere for nearly an hour. Sad.
Wendell Baker 
2009-05-03 - I bought this not expecting too much from it. The Wilson brothers don't disappoint comedically, however at times it seems it would have made more sense for Luke and Owen to switch roles. Will Ferrell does make a few hilarious appearances, and overall the movie isn't bad, just not one of their best.
A heart warming DVD
2009-02-02 - This was a great story of Wendell Baker. Never give up on your own dreams because dreams do come true! Judy
not a barn-burner but sweet and witty
2008-12-15 - ***1/2
As played by Luke Wilson, Wendell Baker is the kind of character authors like to refer to as a "lovable rogue" - a smooth-talking scam artist with a tongue as nimble as the pen of a scribe (to borrow a phrase from scripture, if I may be so bold). The trouble is that a good-hearted guy can run afoul of the law for only so long before he risks losing the woman he loves (Eva Mendes) and before he is finally forced into taking a long, hard look at his life. Thus, once he's paroled from prison, Wendell decides to go straight by taking a job at a retirement home (he's been duped into believing that this is a first step on the road to a career in hotel management) run by a sadistic administrator (Owen Wilson) and his toadying staff. There's a little of the feel of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," as the con man leads the put-upon inmates of the "asylum" in a well-coordinated rebellion against their oppressors.
The chief attraction of "The Wendell Baker Story" is the opportunity it affords us of seeing the Wilson brothers appearing together in the same movie - and what a treat it turns out to be. Luke has written a script filled with the kind of dry, wry wit that has been the hallmark of both of their performances over the years, and their scenes together crackle with understated cynicism and humor (Luke co-directed the feature with yet another brother, Andrew, making this a family affair in the fullest sense of the term). The movie is also blessed with an amazing team of supporting players, including Harry Dean Stanton and Seymour Cassel as spry oldsters who find a supportive helpmate in Wendell Baker; Kris Kristofferson as a mysterious, stoic resident who is harboring a carefully guarded secret about his past; Will Ferrell as the grocery store owner who is Wendell`s chief rival for his now ex-girlfriend`s affections; and Eddie Griffin who serves as chief henchman for the home`s scalawag of a director.
Their performances and the laidback tone of the humor compensate for the occasional dry spots and the fact that the movie itself doesn't really add up to all that much when all is said and done.
