I’ve been on a bit of a Christopher Guest kick recently. His classic mockumentaries around the turn of the millennium were comedies, to be sure, but their humor arose from improvisational studies of human behavior. This often resulted in films that fluctuated between moments of gentle, light punchlines and some instances of truly biting satire and cynicism.
Paint could have used a little more of the latter. It’s not a mockumentary, nor am I suggesting it should be, but it’s often too gentle for its own good. However, if you’re looking for something fairly light and breezy, there are a handful of solid laughs to be had here.
There’s a joke toward the film’s conclusion that illustrates my point. The producers at a PBS station in Burlington, Vermont intend to show something on a television as the two hosts in front of it discuss. A button is pushed and we watch the television arise from a credenza behind the hosts for a good thirty seconds. It’s an enjoyable sight gag, but it’s yet another joke committed to the film’s slow style. Subdued and subtle can be fantastic when there’s more comedy meat on the bone underneath the broadest jokes, but Paint overall is quite canvas-level.
Of course, there’s a reason Paint is committed to this quiet approach. It’s partially a satire of the small-town public broadcasting world, and specifically painting shows like that of Bob Ross. Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson) is the Ross stand-in, complete with curly red afro and embroidered chambray shirt. Carl and almost everyone in the film speaks in the relaxing tones Ross spoke in on his classic show, and that quietude can get a little worn out when a film is trying to juggle a few different tones. It makes me feel like there was bolder territory left unexplored. It wants us to laugh at Carl and even strongly dislike a lot of his behavior, but it also wants us to have sympathy for him, often in the same scene. I know this is a light comedy and it’s not a film worth chastising too harshly, so I won’t. But I can’t help thinking that a little more of that inquisitive, behavioral-study stuff so vital to Guest’s films would have helped smooth Paint’s rough edges. There’s a great film somewhere in here waiting to leap out of a good one.
Carl is somewhat of a womanizer, clearly understanding the effect his program has on some Burlington women and often using it to his advantage. There’s a standout scene in which he rebuffs the advances of fellow PBS employee Jenna (Lucy Freyer) because she’s just too obsessed with him. He seems to be coming to an end to his promiscuous days and tries to rekindle an old flame with the station’s assistant manager Katherine (Michaela Watkins) when she becomes romantically involved with Ambrosia (Ciara Renée), a new painting-show host who seems eager to smudge Carl’s legacy.
Like most light comedies, the film has its peaks and valleys, but there are enough small laughs sprinkled throughout to carry an audience through those valleys to the seven or eight big peaks. For a film of its middling quality, however, the strange thing to me is that I’d actually recommend seeing it with an audience rather than waiting to watch it at home, if it’s the kind of film you think you’d be interested in. The audience’s laughter kept me engaged throughout, almost providing tentpoles for every joke. Still, you can’t tell me there weren’t a few brushstrokes missing here.| George Napper
