The portents were not good.
Firstly, Wanderlust is a rom com, starring Jennifer Aniston. I loved Jen when she starred in Friends but she has starred in nothing but turkeys for ten years (if you don't believe me take a look at internet movie database).
Secondly, Mrs W had already given dire warnings about Wanderlust (she saw it while I was at the football on Tuesday).
Thus, I traipsed along to start my 3-film Friday evening at Nottingham Cineworld with a sense that this was a done deal. It would be awful and that was that.
Except it wasn't.
Ok, Aniston pretty much plays the same role as she does in every other rom com and Paul Rudd pulls the same faces he does in all of his movies but it's what goes on around them which saves Wanderlust.
The premise is that Linda and George, a married couple from New York, have to leave the Big Apple when their jobs go south.
His deeply annoying brother agrees to put them up in Atlanta but along the way they stop at a B & B which turns out to be a hippie commune and suddenly 'find themselves'.
The commune is, of course, populated with a bunch of heart-of-gold weirdos who provide most of the comedy.
Alan Alda plays the founder of the haven of peace and is the king of mirth with gleeful support from the likes of Justin Theroux, Joe Lo Truglio (who appears naked throughout the entire movie) and the girl of the minute Malin Akerman (she is listed for TEN films in 2012).
I can't say I laughed out loud at David Wain and Ken Marino's script but I certainly tittered enough to make me think: 'this is nowhere near as bad as I feared.'
In fact, I thought if I hadn't been beset with pre-movie prejudices I would have liked it even more.
One point I must make, however: how long can the likes of Aniston and Rudd pretend to be 20-somethings?
Aniston is 43 and Rudd is 42 and they are starting to look it. I reckon this would have been better if John Krasinksi and, dare I say, Kate Hudson had been in the lead roles.
Ok, they are both 33 but could have got away with the background story.
Jumps: none
Laughs: none out loud from me (although a lot from the audience) but at least six titters.
Vomit: none
Nudity: A lot of middle aged bits
Overall rating: 6/10