''Wilson'' is a 2017 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by Craig Johnson and written by

Daniel Clowes Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in '' Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''Eightball'' issue typical ...

, based on Clowes' graphic novel ''

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

''. The film stars

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and ac ...

Isabella Amara Isabella Amara (born October 9, 1998) is an Americans, American actress and singer. She gained attention for her role as Bluebird (Marvel Comics), Sally Avril in the films ''Spider-Man: Homecoming'' (2017) and ''Avengers: Infinity War'' (2018). S ...

Judy Greer Judith Therese Evans (born July 20, 1975), known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress, who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She first rose to prominence in a variety of suppor ...

, and

Cheryl Hines Cheryl Ruth Hines (born September 21, 1965) is an American actress and director, best known for playing the role of Larry David's wife, Cheryl, on HBO's ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', for which she has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also sta ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 22, 2017, and was theatrically released by

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...

on March 24, 2017.

Plot

Wilson is a lonely and neurotic middle-aged man living in Minnesota with his dog and sole companion, Pepper. He has spent the last seventeen years divorced from Pippi, who aborted their child and turned to a life of prostitution and drug use. Wilson’s life turns for the worse when his friend Robert moves away along with his family, and his father dies from terminal cancer. Desperate to meet someone new, he tries unsuccessfully to court a woman at a pet store by rear-ending her. A different woman, Alta, is flattered by his attempt and goes out with him for ice cream. She aids Wilson in finding Pippi online, and he decides to track her down. He eventually finds her at a lakeside restaurant where she’s a waitress. They initially have a tense reunion as she has been working to rebuild her life, but they warm up again and spend the night together. Pippi reveals to Wilson that she didn’t abort their child, a daughter, but gave her up for adoption. Elated by his newfound purpose of being a father, Wilson discovers the child is named Claire and shows a photo of her to Pippi at her workplace. Pippi reluctantly goes along with Wilson as they track down Claire’s home and follow her to a shopping mall. Wilson aggressively comes to Claire’s defense when she’s being bullied by several other teenagers, leading to an awkward initial meeting with her. As Wilson and Pippi reconnect, they begin to spend time with Claire, despite Claire rejecting Wilson’s initiation to meet her adoptive parents. After Pippi expresses her desire to prove to her sister Polly that she’s turned her life around and has a new family, Wilson initiates a trip to Polly’s house across the state. Their stayover unravels when Polly learns that Claire lied to her parents about traveling out of state, claiming that she was staying at a friend’s house. Pippi attacks Polly, which leads to Polly calling the police, and they arrest Wilson and Pippi. Wilson is sentenced to 36 months in prison for kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child, while Pippi avoids prison time due to a plea deal. Wilson eventually adapts to life in prison but is left heartbroken by Pippi when she visits him in prison and reveals that she’s moving to Australia with her AA sponsor Tucker. After Wilson is released, he returns to his hometown to learn from his friend and former pet-sitter Shelly that Pepper passed away. After Shelly helps Wilson grieve for Pepper, they begin to bond romantically. Claire reconnects with Wilson and inquires if he has any hereditary diseases because she’s pregnant and is moving to Portland. Wilson later attempts to re-enter Claire’s life and considers moving to Portland but is rejected by Clarie’s adoptive father. However, Claire reluctantly agrees to let Wilson back into her life. Months later, Wilson and Shelly are living together with a new dog. They answer a video call from Claire and her new baby, enlighting Wilson as he’s finally found meaning in his life.

Cast

as Wilson, Pippi's estranged husband and Claire's father *

as Lynn aka "Pippi", Wilson's estranged wife, Claire's mother and Polly's sister *

as Claire, the 17-year-old daughter of Wilson and Lynn (Pippi) and Polly's niece *Bruce Bohne as Carl *

as Shelly *Paul Cram as Helper *

as Polly, Lynn's sister and Claire's aunt *

Margo Martindale Margo Martindale (born July 18, 1951) is an American character actress who has appeared on television, film, and stage. In 2011, she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her recurring role as Mags Bennett on '' J ...

as Alta *

David Warshofsky David Warshofsky (born David A. Warner; February 23, 1961) is an American film, television and stage actor. Life and career Warshofsky was born David A. WarnerAccording to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995''. Center fo ...

as Orson *

Brett Gelman Brett Clifford Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series '' Stranger Things'' and as Martin on the BBC comedy ''Fleabag''. Gelman bega ...

as Robert *

Mary Lynn Rajskub Mary Lynn Rajskub (; born June 22, 1971) is an American actress and comedian who is best known for portraying Chloe O'Brian in the action thriller series '' 24'', and the character Gail the Snail in ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia''. Rajskub ...

as Jodie *

Lauren Weedman Lauren Weedman (born March 5, 1969) is an American actress and comedian, known for her regular role on the HBO television series ''Looking'' (2014–2015), and its subsequent series finale television film, '' Looking: The Movie''. She is also kno ...

as Cat Lady * Katie Rose Law as Monika *Ava Justin as Girl

Production

The film rights to Clowes' graphic novel ''Wilson'' were originally purchased by

Fox Searchlight Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...

for

Alexander Payne Constantine Alexander Payne (; born February 10, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for the films ''Citizen Ruth'' (1996), ''Election'' (1999), ''About Schmidt'' (2002), ''Sideways'' (2004), ''The Desc ...

to direct. The movie was filmed at multiple locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area from June to August, 2015.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

2017 Sundance Film Festival The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016. Awards The following awards were presented: * Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – ''I Don't Feel at ...

on January 22. The film was originally set to be released on March 3, 2017, but was pushed back to March 24.

Critical reception

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 131 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

of 5.45/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Woody Harrelson delivers a solid performance as ''Wilson''s titular grump, but the movie surrounding him can't quite manage to make the character's sour outlook consistently relatable." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 49 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control 2017 films 2010s American films 2017 independent films American independent films 2017 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Live-action films based on comics Films about dysfunctional families Films about kidnapping Films based on American comics Films shot in Minnesota Films scored by Jon Brion 2010s English-language films Films directed by Craig Johnson