Movie Review: Paint

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

An intermittently funny comedy.

Despite this movie's sillier story points and the comedic similarities between the main character and Bob Ross, this is actually a slower paced and rather low-key comedy. This both works to the film's advantage and works against the movie. There are times when the low-key way this film is played makes some jokes incredibly funny. This is especially true of some of the most absurd scenes, because the fact that the film doesn't call attention to the absurdity of what you are watching makes these moments funny. This is especially true of the scenes where we see Ambrosia's (our main character's rival painter at the studio) bizarre paintings and people's reaction to them. There were definitely times watching this that I really laughed out loud. However this also leads to many moments where you "get" the joke, but simply don't laugh at it. This doesn't mean the joke falls flat because the jokes aren't really bad, but the slower pacing and low-key filmmaking work against them. This is especially true in the scenes where we see the women pining for our main character or spoiling them. This is a funny idea, but this subtler type of filmmaking keeps it from becoming anything more than simply a funny idea. However this leisurely pace does give this movie a charming easygoing feel that makes it pleasant to watch. It also works that Owen Wilson's performance is wonderfully charming and a delight to watch. This movie is also shockingly not mean spirited at all, but also has a good heart underneath its comedy, which leads to a quite pleasant watch. 

This movie does have a problem with the fact that the romance simply isn't that interesting nor is it funny enough (outside of maybe one or two jokes) to make up for this. The few scenes where the romance is played straight simply fall flat.

This is not a great comedy by any means, but it did have some moments that made me laugh out loud and a nice charm to much of it.