Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner’s feature debut You Are Here arrives with the weight of obvious expectations upon it, but this yawningly conventional comedy, although smartly written, is bound to disappoint his admirers, who will quite rightly be expecting more.
Zach Galifianakis and Owen Wilson are stoner buddies Ben and Steve. Steve (Wilson) is a local news weatherman, and Ben doesn’t do much of anything. When Ben’s wealthy father dies the two make a road trip home for the funeral, where they are confronted by Ben’s harridan of a sister (Amy Poehler), who disapproves of their druggy behaviour and Ben’s complete lack of initiative. Steve is attracted to Ben’s deceased dad’s much younger, very pretty widow, who of course isn’t interested in him and his immature antics.
This synopsis reads like the makings of something tedious because that’s exactly what it is. Galifianakis and Wilson do what they do in pretty much everything they’ve ever appeared in, and it’s getting pretty old. The plot is right down the line predictable, so much so that it wouldn’t actually be a huge disservice to discuss the ending of the film in a review because even the casual, undemanding viewer will figure it out within 15 minutes (and the more advanced viewer will do so within 5 minutes).
It’s a complete mystery as to what attracted Weiner to this one. While Mad Men is undoubtedly a hard act to follow, surely there were a lot of projects more interesting than this that Weiner could have chosen for his feature debut.
[Rating:2/5]
