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Whether you work in an office, a school, or your home, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day monotony—and it’s important to take a step away from time to time. But in Wanderland, when one man decides to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, he finds himself on an unexpected adventure.
Wanderland stars Tate Ellington as Alex, a lonely New York City office worker who spends every day going through the same boring routine. When he receives a group email, offering up Enchanted Cottage in the Hamptons for the weekend, he eventually decides to take advantage of the offer and enjoy a couple of much-needed days away. When he arrives at the cottage, though, he finds himself with a broken phone charger and no signal—and his quest for cell coverage leads to one mysterious and musical mishap after another.
Whether we like it or not, most of us are dependent on our phone to get through the day. It’s not just how we keep in touch; it’s where we keep all of our most important information. So when both his phone and his car die, Alex is forced to interact with random strangers and rely on them for help—something that can be extremely uncomfortable in our world of texts and Google. And he certainly meets some eccentric strangers, too, as he makes his way to parties and diners and farmhouses in his attempt to find his way back to the cottage. And those eccentric characters add a playful quirkiness to the whole whimsical adventure.
At every step in his journey, Alex also encounters a number of musicians—which, considering the beachy setting and the number of parties that Alex attends, seems perfectly normal. It’s no big surprise to find a kid playing his guitar at the beach or a trippy performance at a party (though, admittedly, the jazz-singing podiatrist does seem a little out there—but not necessarily in a bad way). And they all provide an entertaining natural soundtrack for the film, which builds to a beautiful cover of Modern English’s “I Melt with You.”
Granted, after a while, Alex’s journey from one strange Hamptons party to the next starts to feel somewhat overdone, the series of wacky misadventures a little too drawn-out. But the story’s breezy charm helps to keep it from overstaying its welcome.
If you’re looking for a change of scenery from the same old big-screen release, this quirky indie is worth seeking out. It may even cause you to seek out new people and new adventures—or at least it’ll remind you that it’s okay to turn off your phone every once in a while (like when you sit down to watch a movie).
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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