Wilson began feeling lonely and isolated over time, as he appears to be chasing his ex-wife who left him 17 years ago. Wilson lives hoping to meet his teenage daughter for the first time. He appeared in his obscene, loose and slightly twisted way to get what he wanted.
Wilson is a bitter, infuriating, and utterly unsympathetic character in Daniel Clowes' original graphic novel, but at some point [screenwriter Clowes] found a way to turn Wilson's vinegar back into wine.
There's ... some cranky fun along the way, what with Harrelson's slovenly charm and Dern's attitude of bedraggled exasperation (both of them show a refreshing lack of movie-star vanity).
Perhaps I've seen one too many movies in which men who need to grow up have to wreak havoc on other people's lives to do it. And this is that one too many.
The graphic novel's initial intention was to parody the Sunday funnies, which it executed with an impeccable wit and subtlety that cannot, no matter the cartoonishly exaggerated characters and original block font titles, be translated perfectly to film.
A few good cameos from David Warshofsky, as a prickly old friend of Wilson's, and Margo Martindale, as a date gone wrong, grace the torpid landscape. But it should all be sharper and funnier than it is.
