Lack of good storyline.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Based on a relatively low-key graphic novel by Daniel Clowes, Wilson is a frustrating black comedy that can't quite come up with the goods to match its leading man Woody Harrelson.In one of his best roles since True Detective and delivering his best big screen turn since he rolled out the cowboy hat for Zombieland in 2009, Woody Harrelson is a delight as the cantankerous, rude, obnoxious and somehow likeable Wilson.A perennial loser who just doesn't get why everyone around him is an idiot and can't quite bring himself to adapt to modern day life, you wouldn't call the character of Wilson a stretch for Harrelson to play but it doesn't take away from the fact that Harrelson completely nails his turn.It's a joy (often cringeworthily so) watching Harrelson interact with actors like Laura Dern, Judy Greer and Margo Martindale and as Wilson begins to gather a greater appreciation for life after he finds out he has a teenage daughter and realises he needs love and friendship in his world, Harrelson is up for the journey but sadly Craig Johnson's film isn't.Working alongside Wilson creator Clowes, Johnson has a tough time balancing the films tonal shifts between oddball comedy, life affirming drama and romantically tinged musings and it often feels like the film is uncomfortable in its own skin as we're taken along from scene to scene and scenarios that worked in the graphic novel don't quite come across as well in the film treatment.We never full connect to Wilson and his relationship with Dern's ex-wife Pippi or his burgeoning friendship with Isabella Amara as his estranged daughter Claire, which makes a large portion of the films middle-section feel rather so-so. The other issue is that while the film often is laugh out loud funny, there is a large percentage of the films jokes that don't hit the way they should, making the film at times awkward when it wasn't even aiming to be.Final Say - Wilson is a slight film, a small-scale character study of a man who's failed to see the meaning of life for many a moon and while Harrelson is brilliant in a role he could undoubtedly play in his sleep, the film around him just never clicks into a gear that would've made this tale something truly special.2 ½ amusement park rides out of 5

I am not familiar with the graphic novel that this comes from, but found it odd that a somewhat counter-culture guy was always wearing khakis and a tucked-in collared shirt.The big takeaway was I felt Woody Harrelson used this as some sort of self-indulgant vehicle and there was no direction he was listening to. Thus, a good chunk fell flat as he tried just a bit too hard and a bit too loud to be funny. Same with Laura Dern.There was also not a focus to much of it. In the end, the character throught he had "grown up" while in prison but I really didn't see him as such to begin with. There were suggestions what the character was, but nothing clearly defined. But I really didn't think he was childish. More like bitter and set in his ways, never recovering from past failures. There was a redundancy to his being so smug, but that really didn't bother me.The character was on a search but a vague search. Okay, his father died. Which led him to his former friend. Then to his former wife, then to his surprise 17 year-old daughter. The prison stuff was amusing as it forced a change on the character. There were consequences to running his mouth. I got that.Strangely I didn't really think about Laura Dern and the daughter 'til the visiting room scene when Dern showed up. Then a huge amount of backstory delivered verbally that it was 3 years later and that the daughter turned on him in the courtroom. I thought it was a few months, but 3 years? Huh? You could not spend 15 seconds of screen time with her behind the witness box in the courtroom doing such? Glaring sloppiness. Then it felt like it just treaded water 'til the end. You will not be lacking if you missed it.

Woody Harrelson gives a compelling performance in this year's film but the picture is spoiled a lot by the constant profanity by him and Diane Ladd, portraying his former wife.Harrelson is just perfect as an odd-ball character seeking the meaning of life while desperately trying to form relationships with new friends as well as female companionship.He meets up with his ex-wife who informs him that she didn't have an abortion years before but rather gave up the child for adoption. The two go to see the girl and find an obese, unhappy high school girl taunted by classmates.They try to form a relationship with her and take her to Lane's sister. There, Lane's snooty sister discovers that the girl is telling everyone by phone that she is at a friend's house and calls police. Harrelson is locked up for 3 years and the daughter testifies against him with the kidnapping charge, egged on by her irate adopted parents.Harrelson is released after doing his time and Lane informs him that she is moving to Australia with her sponsor. His beloved dog has died and he takes up with the girl who was watching the dog during his absence.There is a very satisfying end to this film dealing with human relationships, rejection, the need to be wanted and ultimate triumph.

My wife and I watched this at home on BluRay, picture and sound are great, "extras" are minimal.I like Woody Harrelson as an actor, but many of his roles are for unlikable characters. I had hoped his role as the protagonist, Wilson, would be a favorable one. It isn't.As it starts out we see Wilson is bright but socially awkward, whether it is among relatives, friends, or strangers he has a knack for saying the wrong thing. He smiles, he seems oblivious to how he comes across.Add to that his dirty mouth, while a bit of foul language can be appropriate, adding a spice to the character, listening to him is like trying to eat a steak with way too much pepper on it. You soon lose track of the character and just cringe at his foul language. Add to that as the story moves along several other characters, including his ex-wife and his long-lost 17-yr-old daughter, are scripted with extremely filthy language.This could have been a good movie, the characters could have been developed without so much emphasis on filthy language. But lazy script writers rely on this trick, it is an attempt to mask their lazy writing.