Review: 'Paint' is a satire of public TV egomania, deftly underplayed by Owen Wilson's hippie painting instructor
The satire in writer-director Brit McAdams’ comedy “Paint” is as whisper-soft as a babbling brook and as dry as the needles on a pine tree — but it has its charms for those who latch onto its odd groove.
At the PBS station in Burlington, Vermont, the unrivaled star is Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson), the quietly confident, pipe-smoking artist who hosts the daily how-to show “Paint With Carl Nargle.” Carl guides viewers through his painting process, every day creating a gorgeous landscape, usually of Vermont’s tallest peak, Mount Mansfield.
Carl has some surface resemblances to the late Bob Ross — similar halos of permed hair, the same easygoing way of portraying landscapes — but on a personal level, Carl is something else entirely. It’s quickly established that Carl has, in sequence, seduced and abandoned all of the PBS station’s women employees over the years. Maybe it’s his zen-like calm, or his painting prowess, or the custom-made sofa-bed in his ‘70s-style van, nicknamed Van-tastic.
Carl’s current muse is Jenna (Lucy Freyer), the station’s shy young intern. But before Jenna, it was the jaded co-worker Beverly (Lusia Strus), and before Beverly it was Wendy (Wendi McClendon-Covey), the station’s receptionist. But he still carries a torch for his first love, Katherine (Michaela Watkins), the station’s assistant general manager — who has stayed at the station for 22 years, because she carries the same torch for Carl.
Things change at the station when Tony (Stephen Root), the general manager, asks Carl to host two hours of his painting show — to improve the station’s ratings — and Carl refuses, on the grounds that two paintings a day might dilute his creativity. So Tony hires a young painter, Ambrosia (Ciara Renée, aka Hawkgirl from the Arrowverse), to take the second hour.
Ambrosia shakes up the station, first by choosing strange topics to paint that aren’t Mount Mansfield. She also is resistant to Carl’s romantic charms, as her eye lands on Katherine.
McAdams, a TV comedy director making his feature debut, plays everything in the hushed tones of a small-town public broadcasting show — think of the old Molly Shannon/Ana Gasteyer “Delicious Dish” sketches on “Saturday Night Live.” At one point, Carl stands silent facing Tony, and Tony finally says, “Are you yelling at me?” It’s a weird vibe for a broad comedy, but mostly it works as it generates laughter in the face of the characters’ awkwardness.
Without Wilson in the center, though, “Paint” wouldn’t work. Wilson engages in some self-parody of his laid-back, surfer cool demeanor, before digging into Carl’s thwarted dreams of reconnecting with Katherine and convincing the haughty Dr. Bradford Lenihan (Michael Pemberton) to allow one of his paintings in the Burlington Museum of Art. Wilson’s soft desperation lines up well with the mock PBS vibe McAdams is creating, and gives “Paint” an extra layer of humor.
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‘Paint
★★★
Opens Friday, April 7, in theaters. Rated PG-13 for sexual/suggestive material, drug use and smoking. Running time: 96 minutes.