"Baker" Doesn't

There's a sweet story of a small-time loser getting a second chance somewhere in "The Wendell Baker Story", Luke Wilson's mildly diverting but sadly uneven character study. Mr. Wilson, who wrote the film and co-directed it with his oldest brother Andrew, casts himself as Wendell, a con artist who makes his living selling fake ids to illegal Mexican immigrants. Wendell's choice of occupation finally lands him in prison where - apparently due to his easy charm - he's able to squeak by playing football and bring solidarity to the inmates. When his all-but-ignored girlfriend Doreen (Eva Mendes, wasted again) finally wises up and leaves him, Wendell vows to go the straight-and-narrow. The film is an obvious throwback to the offbeat anti-hero stories of the 70s, and that sensibility is mostly on display in the production design (the film looks beautiful and has a constant, jangly soundtrack). But Mr. Wilson's script, filmed in his native Texas, almost feels like an in-joke, as if its off-kilter tone alone is supposed to be funny. It's not.

Out on parole, Wendell lands a job in a "retirement hotel" run by a pair of sociopaths played by middle brother Owen and Eddie Griffin. Here's where the film takes an unfortunate turn. If you can imagine Ben Stiller's psycho nurse from "Happy Gilmore" multiplied by two and stretched out to feature-length, you've pretty much got it. But "Gilmore" was (at best) a screwball comedy; "Baker" aims to be a real character study and at times takes itself deadly serious. The antics portrayed with "phoning it in" laziness by Owen and Eddie make the film feel schizophrenic.

Thankfully, Luke Wilson is able to use his apparent clout in Hollywood to pull off some major coups while casting that retirement community. Kris Kristofferson, Seymour Cassel and Harry Dean Stanton are all on hand to give the film just the shot in the arm it needs. Mr. Cassel and the incomparable Mr. Stanton, in particular, do some fine work. I might have been happier watching a film solely about their winning relationship.

Eva Mendes fares less well as Doreen. There very little in the film to explain what she and Wendell are doing together. But the real problem with the film may be the casting of Wendell himself. Luke Wilson is a likable straight man in light comedies ("Old School", "Legally Blonde"), but he possesses little of that anti-hero charisma that makes this type of story work. Most of the time he just seems to be joking around. Midway through the story Will Ferrell shows up as Doreen's new beau with just enough time to sock Wendell in the jaw and bellow, "You're a real character aren't ya?" Unfortunately, as it turns out, he's not.