Paint Movie Review

Paint (2023)

Rent Paint on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Brit McAdams
Directed by: Brit McAdams
Starring: Owen Wilson, Michaela Watkins, Ciara Renée, Stephen Root
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
Carl Nargle, Vermont's #1 public television painter, is convinced he has it all: a signature perm, custom van, and fans hanging on his every stroke, until a younger, better artist steals everything and everyone Carl loves.

Verdict
I had to search whether this movie is inspired by Bob Ross. It uses his look and persona to lure you in, but it has nothing to do with him. This movie is a rough draft with potential. It has some ideas, but it doesn't develop anything enough. I'm left wondering what this wants to say. Is it a commentary on the patriarchy or the misadventures of a painter stuck in the 70s? Even the conclusion is lackluster, stemming from a need to end the movie rather than make a point.
Skip it.

Review
While Carl's look is inspired by Bob Ross, this movie is fiction and not based on anything about Bob Ross.

Carl (Owen Wilson) hosts a landscape painting show on public television. He looks like he's out of the 70s, and in a scene twenty-two years earlier he looks exactly the same. He hosts the most popular show on the network by far, but public television faces funding issues. The manager wants Carl to host twice as many shows to raise funds.

Carl has seduced every woman at the network, but it seems the extent of that is gifting people a painting. At first I thought it was innuendo, but later scenes make it seem that it's just the painting. I don't know how this movie wants me to view Carl. You could argue he's abusive. At one point he forces a vegan woman to eat meat, but in the scene it seems like he just doesn't understand and the woman complies because she wants to seduce him.

Owen Wilson plays Carl Nargle

Carl is threatened when Ambrosia (Ciara Renée) hosts a new painting show on the network. She becomes popular quickly, ousting Carl as the network mainstay. His dismay peaks during a telethon where he embarrasses himself. The life he knew is unraveling, and it feels like this has to be a metaphor. This guy that's stuck in the 70s and doesn't regard women as equals faces a new era in the workplace. But it never seems like the movie commits. While I don't feel any sympathy for Carl no longer being the center of his world and his ego driven downfall, he never has to come to terms with how he acte. Ambrosia could be interesting, but she's such a flat character, there just to drive Carl's plot.

Ciara Renée plays Ambrosia

Katherine (Michaela Watkins) is Carl's ex. They both pine after each other. Ambrosia tries to empower her, but with all these pieces the movie doesn't pull it together. What's the point? It seems like this movie wants to use Carl as a commentary on how women have been maligned in the workplace, but it never gets there. Carl never answers for his actions. No one ever ousts him for what he's done to others. He's ousted for embarrassing the company.

The hook of this movie is Bob Ross, and he's not only not in it, this has nothing to do with him. There's a good movie somewhere in this, but what we get is lacking. While Carl isn't the typical misogynist, that's part of what makes him interesting. We don't see any characters that have a problem with him. With that being case, this doesn't seem like the commentary I want it to be. I might be giving this movie too much credit.