Wilson Review: Woody Harrelson Nearly Saves Sentimental-Crank Cringe-Comedy

Woody Harrelson is the life of this party, based on the graphic novel by Daniel Clowes, the indie-comics legend whose work has inspired one film landmark in 2001s Ghost World (forget Art School Confidential). Wilson is not in that movies league by a long shot, though you couldnt imagine a better interpreter of Clowes world than Harrelson. That mischief in the actors eyes keeps us intrigued by the films title character, a neurotic grouch who rails against the Internet and other plagues of the modern age. Wilson also hates people his main enjoyment, in fact, comes in invading their personal space and making them squirm. Only his dog, a wire fox terrier named Pepper, earns his affection. In one scene, Wilson and Pepper walk past a movie house showing Vittorio De Sicas Umberto D, a classic neorealist study of loneliness. Game recognizes game.

But Clowes, who wrote the screenplay, and director Craig Johnson, as director (following his success with The Skeleton Twins) show more affinity for anarchic humor than pathos. What sparks the plot is Wilsons reunion with his ex-wife Pippi (a stellar Laura Dern), a recovering junkie who tells him the baby he thought she aborted 17 years ago is actually alive and well and living with adoptive parents. Fatherhood wakes up feelings in Wilson that he doesnt understand, and its a kick watching Harrelson wrestle with them. He tracks down and stalks his daughter, Claire (a most excellent Isabella Amara) a teen whose inherited her dads mile-wide cynical streak and persuades her to give her long-lost biological parents a chance to explain themselves.

Disaster awaits, along with an uncomfortable tug of sentimentality. Still, a side trip to the home of Pippis hyper-critical sister (Curb Your Enthusiasms sass queen Cheryl Hines), allows the trio to play a pretend family in front of a hardass woman who sees through their ruse. For a brief moment, Wilson the movie becomes the serio-comic tightrope walk that Clowes intended. Missed opportunities hobble the film as a whole, but Harrelson is in there pitching his best game. That alone is a sight to see.