Wilson

— Woody Harrelson is Wilson, a curmudgeon just past middle age. He operates mostly without a filter on his speech, with no love of technology, and with only one “friend” who’s moving to St. Louis. Only his dog receives any of his love. He’s reunited with his ex-wife, Pippi, a recovering junkie who lets him know the baby he thought she’d aborted when she up and left him 17 years earlier had been put up for adoption. In Wilson’s world, fatherhood brings the hope of family and future. Of course, Wilson finds his daughter, Claire, and manages to create an occasional, imitative family, failing to consider everyone else’s lives. We end up in the midst of a story of redemption, where there’s hope that a man’s isolation and loneliness can evolve into a life of love and hope. As the film winds down, the main narrative tells us hope is just in front of us and we only have to open our eyes to find a better life. Unfortunately, we’ve just sat through another film about a depressed and bitter white guy whose only hope for happiness is depicted as coupling and fatherhood; otherwise, he might as well accept the piteousness of his life and the reality that he’ll have no legacy and be forgotten in fifty years. If we learn anything from this movie, it’s that life sucks without a wife and child...and that curse words used unnecessarily and too often are a bad idea. This film just doesn’t live up to his pedigree.

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[2017. 94 min. Directed by Craig Johnson. Starring Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Isabella Amara, and Judy Greer.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wilson-2017