Paint Movie Review

In Paint, we have Carl Nargle, who is modeled after the legendary painter Bob Ross. For a little over a decade, Ross hosted a show on PBS called “The Joy of Painting,” instructing his audience how to make their own paintings based on the knowledge they got from watching him.

He had a soft voice, almost whispering as he told you about the “happy little trees” he was about to paint for you. Being a bit of a hippie, Ross liked creating things that would uplift his viewer. The way he spoke, his hair and the way he dressed made it impossible to forget him once you saw only one of his shows.

The writer and director of “Paint,” Brit McAdams, may have been a Bob Ross fan to want to honor him with a film about him. But actually, this isn’t about Ross (uh-huh). It’s about the fictional character Carl Nargle, played soundly by Owen Wilson. Wilson has the mumble and the movements down perfectly. Carl is watched and enjoyed by older adults and those with absolutely nothing else to do with their lives. For some reason, they’re entranced by him, especially the ladies who work with him at the station. He often throws in a few sexual innuendoes for them when he is on air painting, speaking about such things as the “strong shaft” of a tree. His biggest fans would practically drool. Huh??? I didn’t get it.

Then come station budget cuts. They can no longer afford as much Nargle as they were getting, so they bring on a newbie, a firm yet gentle female named Ambrosia, played impeccably by Ciara Renée. Uh-oh! Competition. Nargle isn’t happy. In fact, he knows that with an artist who paints more than landscapes, he’ll be booted. She paints other objects and has themes and can finish two paintings in the time it takes him to paint ONE! He simply doesn’t have her enthusiasm and inspiration anymore. Can he get it back? Can he find some motivation before he loses everything? There are a lot of women around him, even a special one from the past. Perhaps she or another of his lovers will become his muse.

The acting in “Paint” isn’t bad. They didn’t have much of a script to work with, so I commend them for their accomplishments. After the movie, as I walked out, I couldn’t help singing a song from the movie, realizing the best thing about the film was its soundtrack.

Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” made the movie much better, but you can’t only rely on music to impress the audience that’s there to watch a good story play out, can you? Perhaps if our protagonist, Nargle, had concentrated more on his art than the women around him, he could have made it into the Museum in town, which was his true dream. This would have made him more constructive, improving his work. Oh, if only this movie would have been better, but we don’t always get what we want, do we?

Release Date (Theaters): Apr 7, 2023  Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2023