X
- 2023
- PG-13
- IFC Films
- 1 h 36 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- IFC Films
- 1 h 36 m
Summary Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson), Vermont’s #1 public TV 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.
Directed By: Brit McAdams
Written By: Brit McAdams
- 2023
- PG-13
- IFC Films
- 1 h 36 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- IFC Films
- 1 h 36 m
Paint
45
3.8
Where to Watch
Summary Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson), Vermont’s #1 public TV 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.
Directed By: Brit McAdams
Written By: Brit McAdams
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 29 Critic Reviews
45
21% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
48% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
31% Negative
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 29 Critic Reviews
45
21% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
48% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
31% Negative
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
We need gentle comedies like this in the world; we certainly need more movies that remind us of why we fell in love with Owen Wilson in the first place. Like the work of Carl Nargle, history will hopefully be very kind to what McAdams has created.
Paint may ultimately be just modestly amusing, but at least it understands that a palette of well-blended tones has a better chance of earning our laughs than the one-color-fits-all kind.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 17 User Ratings
3.8
12% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
47% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
41% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 17 User Ratings
3.8
12% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
47% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
41% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
IN A NUTSHELL:
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.
The film was written and directed by first-time director Brit McAdams. The film is a long time coming, as it was put on the Blacklist in 2010 for the year’s most-liked, unproduced screenplay.
THINGS I LIKED:
I admit that I never saw the trailer for this film before watching it, so I assumed it was a biopic of the famous Bob Ross who hosted the popular TV show “The Joy of Painting” on public TV. It’s definitely NOT but certainly inspired by it.
The cast includes Owen Wilson, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Michaela Watkins, Stephen Root, and more.
Owen Wilson explained in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he really wanted to use a line in the movie that he once heard actor Sean Penn say. The line is “When’s the last time you heard somebody say something that interesting?” Owen Wilson used it when his character is sitting in a forest, listening to birds chirping.
Filming was done in Albany, New York.
The movie celebrates the love and creation of artistic communication.
There is a lot of subtle, quirky humor, although not all of it lands.
There is an entertaining scene when Carl Nargle tries to destroy all of his artwork by angrily splashing paint all over the canvases, resulting in another lovely piece of art. Cute.
I laughed out loud when old technology was used to censor a pipe out of a video. We sure have come a long way since then.
The film does a good job illustrating obsession and passion. What we focus on every day can control us and even blind us.
Keep watching during the final rolling credits for a bonus scene and some entertaining artwork.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
While the main character is inspired by Bob Ross, the movie is not based on facts and seems a bit disrespectful to him, honestly.
The movie spends way too much time painting the picture of a defeated man who takes forever to make a change in his life.
The film also spends way too much on who is sleeping with whom.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
A lot of suggestive conversations
Two women kiss. It’s understood that they have intimate relations.
Lots of cigar smoking
A man takes drugs.
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As for Nargle, he seems like a refugee from a Christopher Guest film, and I can imagine him, say, as an artist-in-residence among the folksingers of “A Mighty Wind” (2003). Whether he merits a movie to himself is another matter.
Wilson seems perfectly cast, but comes off as so mellow there’s barely anything comical to hang onto. A few flashes here and there tell us where this could have gone.
All you’re left with is Wilson’s exquisitely left-of-center take on the master of friendly trees, which keeps creeping toward the sublime before Paint knocks it back into the middle of an undefined road.
Wilson’s portrayal of Nargle/Ross isn’t so much a performance as an impersonation. It’s a thin coat of paint, in other words, covering up some serious cracks in the storytelling.
Paint is interested in the meme of the man. As the old proverb goes: A funny meme does not a feature film make.
"WOW", I had to say it. Ok, these types of movies are difficult to rate. So let me just say it. I neither enjoyed nor hated this movie, There is nothing special, nothing intimately deep, nothing besides one line in the film that gets you thinking.
I understand that these days people want to be entertained by big action, cinematic shots etc. mostly but there are films out there with 0 action that really get you invested, thinking and motivated - I recommend "12 Angry Men" over this.
This film is not one of them, This is either gonna hit you very softly or miss you by far, and for me, 90% of the time I was bored outta my mind until I hit the scene with the one-liner.
So Im going to go with a 5/10, it's a film, it exists, the plot is simple, and in most cases doesn't do anything for you.
Why did I watch this film? Just so I can Hear Owen Wilson say "WOW". He doesn't by the way, I Kind of wasted my time with this one. I suggest that the writers take a look at older 70s,80s and 90s films to really get a story that's satisfying and affects the audience in a way that gets them invested.
WOW, Ok I'm done.
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I was going to give it a lower rating, but I kept the two stars because while the material he was given to work with is just ludicrous, Owen Wilson manages with his performance to keep this from falling apart as a whole.
Don't get me wrong, this is a pretty bad movie, but I think without Wilson it would have been a disaster of epic proportions.
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"Paint" borrows from the image and likeness of legendary painter, Bob Ross, only to pervert the telling of his supposed story; presenting a narrative which never occurred in his life. This movie is NOT a biopic, and it deeply concerns me that Ross's legacy can be so easily disregarded and tainted by haphazard and mediocre presentations such as this one. If I were at the head of the Ross estate, I would sue the producers. What's worse: every other aspect of this film is flawless, from its incredible supporting cast, to its luscious cinematography and excellent audio. As usual, THE most important aspect of film (its writing) is undermined by uninspired hacks, leaving what would otherwise be a pinnacle production without a soul.
The movie further squanders not only Bob Ross's but also Owen Wilson's star power, failing to deliver anything honest, unique or even creative in the telling. Like so many titles released in our generation, "Paint" attempts to co-opt the fame and fortune of true talent in order to make a measly dollar; another plagiarism by a generation of Hollywood which refuses to make an effort or learn even one lesson. Director Brit McAdams desperately tries to apply the "Saturday Night Live" inspired antics of a Will Ferrell movie while exploiting Ross's appearance for box office ticket sales. The comments his protagonist makes are supposed to be smile worthy and silly, but instead strike the listener as rather looney and overanalyzed. The appreciation "Carl Nargle" supposedly inspires in his fictional viewers is also exaggerated for effect, leaving us, the real audience, wondering why the main character is so fascinating or popular; the writers have left us with no real reason to perceive any value in him.
I'm disappointed to see Owen Wilson sign up for this type of film, but at the same time I feel I can't blame him: actors need work, and it's hard to know what one is getting themselves into; especially nowadays, when the script or the narrative can be changed at any moment, and rewrites and reshoots are in their heyday. Political narratives are now driven off the back of fan heritage, often to everyone's detriment, and the industry has become a minefield: imploding erratically, depending on who's at the top and how much they've been bribed to sell a bias.
"Paint" panders to the "Woke" manifesto by placing the non-white, non-cisgendered, flawless supporting female firmly in the lead, while naming the picture after the male protagonist and proceeding to undermine his good name and position. The results speak for themselves: the viewers notice the resentment and disgust in the narrative, and feel put off to the presentation. Then the movie flops and we all lose time, money and opportunity. The best way to counteract this kind of production is to not purchase and to not watch.
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My Wife’s a painter, and this was advertised as a Comedy/Drama based on a real-life PBS painter, shot in gorgeous locations, and was the only PG movie on Foxtel so we went for it. Big mistake. It’s supposed to be set around the 70’s and 80’s but folk are talking about Cell phones and Uber’s...What?
The ‘Painter’ of the title has a ‘seduction’ wagon for his fan club conquests, and his past girlfriend of 22 years decides that she might try a dalliance with a lesbian! - so now we are ticking boxes; with a mixed race, sexually confused ‘woman’. Poor taste abounds as a hook for the younger audiences who know no better, and some ‘humour’ that struggles to raise more than a few smiles.
Here’s a complete waste of good cinematography, locations, and some wall-to-wall pop songs from the era (whatever ‘that’ era is supposed to be?) that strains its way to a listless ending, leaving the feeling it might have been better going straight to streaming then quickly forgotten.
Oh, and PG, really?
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