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The Owen and Luke Wilson StoryTime for a new chapter, guys.

By Dana Stevens
Posted Friday, May 18, 2007, at 4:31 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

As for Luke, he's most often cast in the Joel McCrea role: the humble and diffident nice guy, oblivious to his own handsomeness and just smart enough to realize that he's not quite sure what's going on. The difference is that McCrea pulled off those beleaguered-Average Joe roles with style and wit, whereas Luke, especially when playing a straight romantic lead, can be as limp and tepid as a wet sock. In this scene from last year's unfortunate My Super Ex-Girlfriend, his discomfort is painfully visible as he finally professes his feelings to Anna Faris. As Faris hurls herself into his arms, Luke appears to be thinking about something else entirely: His briefs chafe, maybe, or he left his wallet on the craft table. Granted, it wasn't Wilson (or his brother) who wrote this lumpen dialogue. But he still agreed to speak it, and after a certain point in an actor's career, that choice means something.

Having seen an example of the bad Luke—sincere but floppy, like a lovestruck Labrador—let's take a look at the good one. In Idiocracy, Mike Judge's bleakly dystopic vision of America's stupid future, Luke's "who, me?" persona is perfect for his role as the hero by default, an Army scrub who's cryogenically frozen and wakes up centuries hence as the smartest man alive. Here, he takes the mic at a public gladiatorial event to suggest, ever so politely, that America try irrigating its crops with water instead of a bright-green sports drink called Brawndo. The gladiator who makes the "what a fag" gesture at the end of Luke's speech is the aforementioned Andrew, who's become such a regular in these jokey cameos in his brothers' films—he's Future Man in Bottle Rocket, the coach in Rushmore, a cop in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle—that Andrew-spotting should become its own drinking game.

In The Wendell Baker Story, Luke plays the classic Owen role: He's a good-hearted small-time swindler who takes a job at a nursing home upon his release from prison. Owen is cast against type as the villain, a coldhearted nurse who's scamming the residents out of their government checks by faking their deaths. With the help of two horny codgers (Seymour Cassel and Harry Dean Stanton, both terrific), Luke's Wendell saves the home and wins back his girl (Eva Mendes, as handsome and stiff as a carved figure on a ship's prow) from her new grocer boyfriend (Will Ferrell, uncredited and hilarious).

The Wendell Baker Story is fine for what it is, a shaggy caper comedy with a vaguely 1970s vibe (though it's set in the present day) and an amiable country-rock soundtrack. But it doesn't feel like something worth waiting two years for (that's how long the film sat on a shelf before landing a distribution deal). The Wilsons got a sweet deal from the gods at birth: good looks, brains, and a sense of humor. But they've coasted far enough on those gifts. As they round the corner into the prime of their lives—it isn't autumn yet, but it's certainly July—I feel sort of like their fond but exasperated middle-school teacher. I'm waiting for them to push themselves … and I'm beginning to drum my fingers on the table.

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Dana Stevens is Slate's movie critic.
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