Goofy ‘Wilderpeople' an irreverent joy

Ricky Baker is an orphaned juvenile delinquent, a “real bad egg,” as an onscreen title announces in “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” Taika Waititi’s endearingly playful adventure tale set in the New Zealand bush.

When Ricky is sent to live with foster parents Bella and Hec Faulkner on their farm, it’s not exactly a match made in heaven. Minutes after arriving, the sullen preteen takes one lap around the house and circles straight back into the police car he arrived in.

In time, though, he settles in, eventually joining Hec on an epic journey through the wilderness while eluding the predatory clutches of social services, vigilante do-gooders and well-armed police and military squads.

As portrayed by Julian Dennison and Sam Neill, Ricky and Hec slip easily into kid-and-curmudgeon camaraderie, with Dennison making the most of his stout frame and Neill still evincing the handsomeness that made him a heartthrob in “My Brilliant Career,” even if it’s buried here under a bushy white beard and a perpetual scowl.

“You can call him Uncle,” the sweet-natured Bella (Rima Te Wiata) tells Ricky when he arrives. “No he can’t,” Hec barks back, rolling a cigarette.

And so it goes, in a buddy comedy in which the joshing, lighthearted humor in time gives way to outright silliness worthy of Monty Python at its most absurdly outlandish (with a nod toward “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” for good measure).

Adapted by Waititi from Barry Crump’s 1986 novel “Wild Pork and Watercress,” “Wilderpeople” possesses the same goofy irreverence the filmmaker brought to his vampire satire “What We Do in the Shadows,” which burst with similar larky joie de vivre.

Appearing in a funny cameo as an eccentric preacher, Waititi is an expansive, warm-hearted humanist.

The fun he pokes is strictly superficial, never grazing his characters’ vital organs or essential dignity.

Structured as a series of brief, antic chapters, “Hunt For the Wilderpeople” gives viewers the added bonus of spectacular scenery, taking them on a journey through New Zealand’s exquisite forests, mountains and lakes that become characters in themselves.

At times awkwardly staged -- especially when it comes to some dubious gunplay at a forest rest cabin and a gratuitously wacky climax - this fanciful fable nonetheless finds its own rhythm, especially as Ricky’s natural exuberance begins to wear away at Hec’s impenetrable sulk.

Even when it dispenses with realism altogether, “Hunt For the Wilderpeople” conveys important truths about the will and sheer endurance it takes to make a family.

“Rules Don’t Apply,” set to open on Nov. 23, is the movie directed by Warren Beatty since the political satire “Bulworth” in 1998, and his first time back in front of the camera since the ill-fated “Town and Country” was released in 2001.

So it is only appropriate that in the film, Beatty plays notoriously reclusive and secretive billionaire Howard Hughes. However, the limited coverage of the movie up to now has been careful to signal that the movie is not a Hughes biopic like the 2004 Martin Scorsese picture “The Aviator,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Rather the new film, directed by Beatty from a script credited to Beatty from a story by Beatty and Bo Goldman, uses Hughes and his eccentric world as its backdrop. Set in 1958 Hollywood, a small town beauty queen (Lily Collins) becomes an actress under contract to Hughes who then gets involved with one of his drivers (Alden Ehrenreich), putting them both afoul of Hughes’ strict rules about romance among employees.

Besides Beatty, Collins and Ehrenreich, the film features an impressive supporting cast: Alec Baldwin, Annette Bening, Haley Bennett, Candice Bergen, Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Steve Coogan, Taissa Farmiga, Ed Harris, Megan Hilty, Oliver Platt and Martin Sheen.

all appear in the movie as well.

Though its official synopsis declares the movie a “dramedy,” the tone of the trailer is one of a zippy screwball romance and erstwhile comedy of manners, if the manners in question are the questionable codes of Hollywood. As Collins says to Beatty’s Hughes, “If what you are is crazy, then give me more crazy.”

The film’s first poste made clear for anyone who may not be familiar with the work of the 79-year-old Beatty that “Rules Don’t Apply” is “from the Academy Award winning filmmakers of ‘Reds’ ‘Heaven Can Wait,’ ‘Shampoo,’ ‘Dick Tracy,’ ‘Bonnie And Clyde,’ ‘Bugsy’ and ‘Bulworth.’” He worked on those films in a variety of capacities, from director to writer to producer to actor.

Beatty is a 15-time Oscar nominee who won best director for “Reds” and is a recipient of the academy’s prestigious Irving G. Thalberg memorial award. And given the film’s holiday release date, its Hughes/Hollywood-related story and Beatty’s storied career, it will remain to be seen how the film plays into the upcoming season’s awards picture. Or as Beatty said to the New York Times for a 2015 story attempting to peel back the mysteries of his long-gestating project, “I would appreciate if you would say Mr. Beatty good-naturedly declined to comment.”

Mark.Olsenlatimes.com

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