Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 96 minutes
Release Date: April 7th, 2023 (USA)
Studio: IFC Films
Director(s): Brit McAdams
Writer(s): Brit McAdams

A real artist follows his heart.

Get ready for a ton of headlines akin to “Like watching PAINT dry” because Brit McAdams’ Paint is quite the slow burn. Think Wes Anderson by way of Jody Hill—a marriage that will surely work for some, but did not for me. Because it’s not quirky enough to exist solely on its aesthetic. And it’s not darkly deadpan enough to warrant the awkward pauses and discomfort.

It’s simple a story about a sexist PBS painter styled after Bob Ross who lets fame sabotage his relationship, fear sabotage his talent, and ambivalence sabotage his career. Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson) had it all and squandered everything to hit rock bottom and find the self-awareness to pick himself back up and remember what the empty words he spoke to Vermont’s loyal viewers every weekday truly meant.

Flashbacks situate us inside the workplace dynamics pretty early on as every woman who works at Tony’s (Stephen Root) station fawns over Carl besides assistant producer Katherine (Michaela Watkins). Why? Because they used to go out and probably still love each other despite her focus now being centered on saving the station (and escaping to Albany to run her own PBS) and his on the unexplainable sex appeal his only-paints-Mount-Mansfield, ASMR-adjacent celebrity possesses.

So, while he huffs his own flammable fumes, she looks to bring the ratings back to profitability before saying goodbye. That means hiring a younger artist (Ciara Renée’s Ambrosia) for friendly competition and transforming Carl’s hefty salary into a severance package once syndication renders his needing to do more live shows obsolete.

A reductive rivalry ensues with sexual fluidity and “killing things with kindness” attitudes softening the blow of any potential drama that could actually go somewhere beyond this sleepy town’s borders. It’s all noise to remind Carl and Katherine of what they once had while proving how easy it is to villainize a woman for daring to have sex outside of a monogamous coupling when you’re pretending like a man who does everything but is fine.

The whole becomes a very long and winding road towards clarity for Carl (Wilson is pretty much playing a watered-down version of Eli Cash from The Royal Tenenbaums) so that he can finally forgive Katherine’s transgression while she’s forced to eat guilt and ignore his own while waiting for him to finish. Add some ageist gags with lazy art world commentary and the whole feels like one of Nargle’s paintings: a hollow, passionless canvas fit for a Motel 6. (McAdams’ words, not mine.)

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Owen Wilson as “Carl Nargle”, and Stephen Root as “Tony” in Brit McAdams’ PAINT. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films release.