Including the house they just bought together, which they could barely afford even under ideal employment circumstances. So, they do the next logical thing: move in with the nearest relative and try their best to adapt to their lesser circumstances.
But that turns out to be beyond appalling. His brother is not only a complete ass, he’s proud of it. He chides them for their ill fortune, and starts giving them unsolicited advice. His wife copes with him by taking pills and pretending she doesn’t notice how miserable her life has become.
Now our once-happy couple are themselves completely miserable, but have enough self-esteem left to not take the abuse any more, so they just take off in their battered car with their few possessions and accidentally stumble upon….an old hippie commune. Really. As in, free love, smoke pot, sit around and play guitar, grow things organically, maybe sell the surplus in a fruit stand by the side of the road. Do yoga. Meditate. Give peace a chance. Have we stepped into a ’60s time warp?
Well, kind of. And by the way, don’t see this if you don’t want to watch people doing drugs, or talking about sex. The only real nudity, though, is a kind of grossout-show-fat-old-people-running. Not a pretty sight.
Speaking of not a pretty sight, the leader of this recidivist enclave, Seth (Justin Theroux), isn’t afraid to listen to everyone else’s conversations (“We have no secrets here”) nor insinuate himself on Linda, who thinks she’s following George’s lead in opening themselves to new sexual experiences. But George attempts at playfulness turn into a kind of verbal silly porn, and he winds up frustrated, then finds that he has let loose the green-eyed monster when thinking about Linda with Seth. Oh, and we should be surprised that adultery produces jealousy? C’mon, show me somebody who’s that “enlightened” about sharing a sexual partner and I’ll show you a couple that doesn’t really care about each other in the first place.
Well, obviously George and Linda do care for one another, but they kind of have to find out the hard way. It’s a shame, because obviously some things cannot be taken back (like infidelity revealed). After all the poking fun at tree-huggers and developers alike, we’re not sure who the bad guys are, exactly, only that in this farce, nobody’s off limits.
Oh, and we’re not sure we want people joining us in the bathroom, either.
Yes, in the end, we’re embracing some very old-fashioned values, like privacy. And closed doors. And red meat. And sexual exclusivity. And mental clarity. Oh, and by the way, if you’re going to fake Seth being a great guitarist, you need to clip the huge picking thumbnail on the “musician double.” “Wanderlust,” indeed.
Ronald P. Salfen is interim pastor of St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Irving, Texas.
